Poison Garden: The Deadly Mormon

When you see something as beautiful as this, one can't help but to wonder if it's all too nice to be good. Oh yes! This is poison in all its glory. The mormon butterfly is world famous, but do you know its deadly origin?

Common rose butterfly (Pachliopta aristolochiae).

This is the common rose butterfly (Pachliopta aristolochiae), which is not all that common unless you plant its caterpillar host plant, the Aristolochia birthworts, which is reflected in it's Latin name. However beautiful this butterfly appears to you, its beauty is a warning to would-be predators. Note that its head, thorax, and abdomen are all vibrantly coloured to mean POISON! DON'T EAT ME! Indeed, the common rose caterpillars feed on toxic birthworts and steal the plant's poison for their own protection, which is carried on to adulthood. So successful is this protection, the common rose has become a model of mimicry to the common mormon butterfly (Papilio polytes romulus), which is totally innocuous. You have probably seen the latter as they frequent lime plants. Even though the caterpillars of both species look totally different, the butterflies appear almost identical especially from far. After all, to a bird or whoever wants to eat black and red butterflies, it's best to avoid all of them!

 

Common rose butterfly, side view.

 

Common mormon butterfly (Papilio polytes romulus). Can you spot the difference?

This is the wonder of Nature that I find absolutely fascinating. There is no ways that all these remarkable creatures can be created or invented. But rather it is aeons of evolution and co-evolution, where different species adapt to the environment, while interacting with one another, all in the name of survival by passing down the gene. Nature is amoral and cruel, it is us humans who find beauty in some of its elements. But don't be fooled, all that's embodied in this beautiful butterfly means danger and survival.

 

By the way, that's how ugly duckling looks 😁

 

Next time, we will uncover the story of the common rose's more majestic cousin, and find out how the king of birdwings relates to Malaysia and its citizens.