Common Mormon

Common Mormon
Papilio polytes

Female, cyrus form
(Note the absence of claspers)
Mysore, June 2003 Female, cyrus form, or Male
Aligarh, February 2001 Female, stichius form, sipping from Cinerarea flowers
Delhi, March 2003

The female occurs in three forms: cyrus, stichius and romulus. The first resembles the male of the species, the others resemble the Common Rose and the Crimson Rose respectively. The last two can be distinguished from the originals by their black bodies.

The Roses are unpalatable and by mimicking them the female Mormon gains in safety. This is an example of Batesian Mimicry. The Common Mormon is in fact one of the earliest examples of mimicry given in the scientific literature. No one should miss the relevant writings of Alfred Russel Wallace, especially his 1864 article on The Phenomena of Variation and Geographical Distribution as Illustrated by the Malayan Papilionidæ.

It is reasonable to expect that the cyrus and stichius forms will be more common where the Roses are abundant. Strangely though, I never saw one of these forms during my year in Bangalore though I was particularly on the lookout for them. Yet in Delhi and Aligarh where the Common Rose is uncommon, I have seen the stichius form frequently (about half as frequently as the Rose). And I have never seen the Crimson Rose in these parts, but I have a sighting of the romulus form from Gurgaon.

Swallowtail eggs are spherical, as illustrated by the Common Mormon egg on the left.

Egg
Gurgaon, October 2003

Similar Species: Common Rose, Crimson Rose.

Amber Habib

Last modified: November 17 2005


Female, cyrus form (Note the absence of claspers) Mysore, June 2003	Female, cyrus form, or Male Aligarh, February 2001	Female, stichius form, sipping from Cinerarea flowers Delhi, March 2003

	Swallowtail eggs are spherical, as illustrated by the Common Mormon egg on the left.
Egg Gurgaon, October 2003