The adult butterflies on top are dark brown with a purple iridescence, and with a broad fractured orange band across each forewing, and a broad complete orange band across each hindwing.

drawing by Pieter Cramer and Caspar Stoll, listed as Papilio aeopus,
De uitlandsche kapellen, voorkomende in de drie waereld,
Volume 3 (1782), p. 108, Plate CCLIV, fig. A,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

The undersides are similar but with broader orange patches. The female is much larger than the male. The male wingspan is about 6 cms. The female span is about 8.5 cms.

underside, drawing by Pieter Cramer and Caspar Stoll, listed as Papilio aeopus,
De uitlandsche kapellen, voorkomende in de drie waereld,
Volume 3 (1782), p. 108, Plate CCLIV, fig. B,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

The species occurs as several subspecies in

and the subspecies eutychius (Fruhstorfer, 1913) occurs in Australia in

Further reading :

Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 560-561.

Carl Linnaeus,
Insecta Lepidoptera,
Systema Naturae,
Volume 1, Edition 10 (1760), Class 5, Part 3, p. 475, No. 105.

Caspar Stoll,
Papillons exotiques,
in Pieter Cramer:
De uitlandsche kapellen, voorkomende in de drie waereld,
Volume 3 (1782), p. 108,figs A, B, and also Plate 254, figs A, B.

previous caterpillar

Australian butterflies

Australian Lepidoptera

Australian moths

next caterpillar

(updated 20 March 2004, 9 December 2013, 28 June 2020)