Passing over Graphium ucalegonides, which still appears on many lists but has been reclassified as a subspecies of Graphium fulleri at most science sites, we come to Graphium wallacei, Wallace's Graphium, or Wallace's Kite, or Wallace's Jay.
Photo from Facebook.
It was named for Alfred Russel Wallace, an intrepid naturalist who explored obscure places like New Guinea and collected specimens he sent to other scientists to identify, classify, and name. Wallace sent one male butterfly back to England; it was deemed unique and classified as a "new" species, formerly unknown to Europeans, named in Wallace's honor.
Some other species in other genera were also named after Wallace for the same reason. This web site documents each of "Wallace's" species:
Although it's sometimes found in Indonesia and the Moluccas as well as New Guinea, photos of this butterfly, alive, are rare. While living it seems to be blackish or brownish, with white spots, blobs of lighter color, and some distinctive yellow-green or yellow spots at the overlapping edges of its wings. Collected specimens fade quickly to deep brown with cream-colored spots.
Painting by Hewitson, who declared the butterfly a new species and named it after Wallace in 1858.
Though uncommon even in its limited range, it is not believed to be threatened.
Nothing seems to have been published about this species' life history.
This is just beautiful and a lucky sighting. I just saw my first monarch of the year today. Alas, wings closed; she wouldn't open them for me and I have a feeling my flight photos are showing where she was three seconds before she flew out of the frame!
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting and commenting. Between the weird weather, glyphosate attacks, and the deliberate spread of lepidopteran diseases to slow down the immigration of the Spongey Moth, I've had no lucky sightings here yet! It was July before I saw Tiger Swallowtails. The "Butterfly of the Week" series is global and often celebrates species that have never flown in North America, like this one.
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