Malayan birdwing
The Malayan birdwing is a big, beautiful butterfly from the rainforests of Southeast Asia. The male has black wings in front and shiny golden-yellow wings at the back. In the morning it flies high up in the treetops, 20 to 30 metres above the ground.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
The male and female look different. The male has big golden hindwings, while the female is darker with only a small golden patch and yellow spots.
Its tummy, called the abdomen, is yellow, while its head and chest are black.
The young caterpillar is black with lots of orange bumps. Later it turns dark coffee brown.
Its pupa is yellowish green with grey lines, so it looks just like a leaf. The butterfly stays inside for about a month.
To win a female, the male does a quivering dance in the air a few metres above her.
Most asked questions about Malayan birdwing
?What does the Malayan birdwing eat?
The butterfly drinks nectar from flowers. Its caterpillars eat the leaves of pipevines and a few other plants.
?Where does the Malayan birdwing live?
In rainforests in Southeast Asia, from Myanmar to Indonesia.
?How long does the Malayan birdwing stay a pupa?
About 27 to 30 days. Then the butterfly climbs out.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Troides amphrysus
- Named by
- Cramer, 1779
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Papilionidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Papilionidae
- Lives on
- Asia
- Also known as
- Malay birdwing
Where the facts come from
- Troides amphrysus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Hectonichus. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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