| Swallowtails | Indian Butterflies |
Common Mormon
Papilio polytes
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| Male Mysore, June 2003 |
Freshly emerged female, cyrus form Delhi, February 2009 |
Female, stichius form, sipping from Cinerarea flowers Delhi, March 2003 |
| Swallowtails | Indian Butterflies |
Common Mormon
Papilio polytes
|
|
|
| Male Mysore, June 2003 |
Freshly emerged female, cyrus form Delhi, February 2009 |
Female, stichius form, sipping from Cinerarea flowers Delhi, March 2003 |
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 -- see the writings of Alfred Russel Wallace, especially his 1864 article on The Phenomena of Variation and Geographical Distribution as Illustrated by the Malayan Papilionidę.
It is reasonable to expect that the cyrus and stichius forms will be more common where the Roses are abundant. In Delhi and Aligarh where the Common Rose is uncommon, I have seen the stichius form about 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 nearby Gurgaon. Between October 2007 and March 2008, I reared 15 Common Mormons from the caterpillar stage. Only one of these (the 14th) was a stichius.
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| Egg Swallowtail eggs are spherical Gurgaon, October 2003 |
Early instar Delhi, September 2008 |
Late instar Delhi, September 2008 |
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| Caterpillar showing osmaterium Delhi, September 2008 |
Freshly emerged male Delhi, October 2008 |
Male chasing stichius female Aligarh |
More of our Common Mormon images on Flickr:
Similar Species: Common Rose, Crimson Rose.