Ornithoptera croesus (Wallace's Golden Birdwing, Goldroter Vogelschwingenfalter)
Ornithoptera croesus, also called Wallace's Golden Birdwing is a butterfly from Australasia / Indomalaya ecozone (Australia). The first description was in 1859 by Wallace. The wingspan is about 17 – 20 cm. This butterfly is a member of the family PAPILIONIDAE. Ornithoptera croesus is black. It has large orange or red areas on the wings. The females are brown and have some white and yellow spots. They are significant-larger than the males.
Photos for easy identification
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Here you can see some photos of Ornithoptera croesus (Goldroter Vogelschwingenfalter, Wallace's Golden Birdwing) (male above / female below). Ornithoptera croesus is a member of the family PAPILIONIDAE from Australasia / Indomalaya (Australia).
Description
The fore wings are black. The wing leading edge is orange or red. A black and longish odour-spot is on the wing.
The underside of Ornithoptera croesus is black. There are some green spots on the wing.
The hind wings of Ornithoptera croesus are orange or red. At the wing leading edge there are some big, golden spots. The edge of wing is black. At the outer edge there are some small golden and some small black spots.
The underside is green. The fore side of the wing is golden. The veins are black. At the outer edge there is a chain of black spots.
The body (abdomen) is yellow. Head and thorax are black. The underside of thorax has a red hair-coat.
Sex differences: The female covers the upper range of the wing-span. It is significant-larger than the male. The basic colour of the female is dark-brown. There are some small, white spots on the fore wings. On the hind wings there are big yellow marks. The underside is a copy from upside.
Distribution
Ornithoptera croesus (Wallace's Golden Birdwing, Goldroter Vogelschwingenfalter) is a butterfly from the Australasia / Indomalaya (Australia) ecozone. The distribution is restricted on Moluccas.
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Larval food
Aristolochiaceae:
- Aristolochia gaudichaudii
General information
The first description of this butterfly was in 1859 by Wallace. There are three subspecies.
- Ornithoptera croesus lydius [Felder & Felder, 1865]
- Ornithoptera croesus sananaensis [Tsukada & Nishiyama, 1980]
- Ornithoptera croesus toeantei [Parrot & Schmid, 1894]
Ornithoptera croesus is, like all other Birdwings a true miracle of nature. This butterfly is strictly protected. It is listed in the appendix II from CITES.
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Here you can see the subspecies Ornithoptera croesus lydius (male left/ female right). The wingspan is about 17 - 20 cm.
Macro photos
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Here you can see some macro photos of Ornithoptera croesus.
Protection provisions / Red List
- CITES: (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora):
-Appendix II- (as at 12.02.2008) - EU regulation on trading with species of wild Fauna and Flora:
-Appendix B- (as at 19.08.2005) - IUCN Red List of threatened species:
-endangered, protected- (as at 2008)
Similar and closely-related species
Scientific name
Ornithoptera croesus Wallace 1859
(in past: Troides croesus)
Other names
Wallace's Golden Birdwing
Goldroter Vogelschwingenfalter
Classification / Taxonomy / Family tree
- Kingdom: ANIMALIA
- Phylum: ARTHROPODA
- Class: INSECTA
- Order: LEPIDOPTERA
- Suborder: DITRYSIA
- Superfamily: PAPILIONOIDEA
- Family: PAPILIONIDAE
- Subfamily: PAPILIONINAE
- Tribe: TROIDINI
- Genus: ORNITHOPTERA
- Specific name: CROESUS
