''Ornithoptera alexandrae'', the Queen Alexandra's birdwing, is the largest species of
butterfly
Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprise ...
in the world, with females reaching wingspans slightly in excess of 25 cm to 28 cm (9.8 inches to 11 inches). This
birdwing is restricted to the forests of the
Oro Province
Oro Province, formerly (and officially still) Northern Province, is a coastal province of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital is Popondetta. The province covers 22,800 km2, and has 176,206 inhabitants (2011 census). The province shares l ...
in eastern
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
.
The species is endangered and one of only three insects (the other two being butterflies as well) to be listed on
Appendix I of
CITES
CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...
, making commercial international trade illegal.
[CITES appendices I, II and III](_blank)
official website
History
The species was discovered in 1906 by
Albert Stewart Meek, a collector employed by
Walter Rothschild
Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild, (8 February 1868 – 27 August 1937) was a British banker, politician, zoologist and soldier, who was a member of the Rothschild family. As a Zionist leader, he was presen ...
to collect natural history specimens from New Guinea. In the next year, Rothschild named the species in honour of
Alexandra of Denmark
Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 January 1901 to 6 May 1910 as the wife of ...
. Although the first specimen was taken with the aid of a small shotgun, Meek soon discovered the early stages and bred out most of the first specimens.
Though most authorities now classify this species in the genus ''Ornithoptera'', it has formerly been placed in the genus ''Troides'' or the now defunct genus ''Aethoptera''. In 2001 the
lepidopterist Gilles Deslisle proposed placing it in its own subgenus (which some writers have treated as a genus); he originally proposed the name ''Zeunera'', but this is a junior
homonym
In linguistics, homonyms are words which are homographs (words that share the same spelling, regardless of pronunciation), or homophones ( equivocal words, that share the same pronunciation, regardless of spelling), or both. Using this definiti ...
(with ''Zeunera'' Piton 1936
rthoptera, and his replacement is ''Straatmana''.
Description
Female: Female Queen Alexandra's birdwings are larger than males with markedly rounder, broader wings. The female can reach, and slightly exceed, a wingspan of 25 cm to 28 cm (9.8 inches to 11 inches), a body length of and a body mass of up to , all enormous measurements for a butterfly. The female has brown wings with white markings arranged as two rows of chevrons. The hindwings are brown with a submarginal line of centred yellow triangles. The body is cream coloured and there is a small section of red fur on the brown thorax.
Male: There is
sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most an ...
in this species. The wings are long with angular apices. They are iridescent bluish green with a black central band. There is a pronounced sex brand. The underside is green or blue green with black veins. Males are smaller than females. The abdomen is bright yellow. The wingspan of the males can be approximately , but more usually about . A spectacular form of the male is form ''atavus'', which has gold spots on the hindwings.
Biology
Eggs
The eggs are large, light yellow and flattened at the base, fixated to the surface on which they are laid by a bright-orange substance. Under ideal conditions, the female Queen Alexandra's Birdwing is capable of laying over 240 eggs throughout its life.
Larva
![Pararistolochia promissa1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Pararistolochia_promissa1.jpg)
Newly emerged larvae eat their own eggshells before feeding on fresh foliage. The larva is black with red tubercles and has a cream-coloured band or saddle in the middle of its body.
![013602462_Ornithoptera_alexandrae_lateral_larva](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/013602462_Ornithoptera_alexandrae_lateral_larva.jpg)
Larvae of this species feed on the shell from which they hatched and then start to extract nutrients from pipe vines of the genus ''
Pararistolochia'' (family
Aristolochiaceae
The Aristolochiaceae () are a family, the birthwort family, of flowering plants with seven genera and about 400 known species belonging to the order Piperales. The type genus is ''Aristolochia'' L.
Description
They are mostly perennial, he ...
), including ''P. dielsiana'' and ''P. schlecteri''. They feed initially on fresh foliage of the host plants and their own eggs, ultimately causing
ringbark to the vine before pupating. Plants of the family Aristolochiaceae contain
aristolochic acids in their leaves and stems. This is believed to be a potent vertebrate poison and is accumulated by larvae during their development.
Pupa
The pupa is golden yellow or tan in colour with black markings. Male pupae may be distinguished by a faint charcoal patch on the wing cases; this becomes a band of special scales in the adult butterfly called a
sex brand. The time taken for this species to develop from egg to pupa is approximately six weeks, with the pupal stage taking a month or more. Adults emerge from the pupae early in the morning while humidity is still high, as the enormous wings may dry out before they have fully expanded if the humidity drops.
Imago
![013602472 Ornithoptera alexandrae dorsal female Holotype](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/013602472_Ornithoptera_alexandrae_dorsal_female_Holotype.jpg)
The adults may live for three months or more and have few predators, excluding large
orb weaving spiders (''Nephila'' species) and some small birds. Adults feed at flowers providing a broad platform for the adults to land on, including ''
Hibiscus
''Hibiscus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. The genus is quite large, comprising several hundred species that are native to warm temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world. Member species ...
''. The adults are powerful fliers most active in the early morning and again at dusk when they actively feed at flowers.
Males also patrol areas of the host plants for newly emerged females early in the morning. Females may be seen searching for host plants for most of the day. Courtship is brief but spectacular; males hover above a potential mate, dousing her with a
pheromone
A pheromone () is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. Pheromones are chemicals capable of acting like hormones outside the body of the secreting individual, to affect the behavio ...
to induce mating. Receptive females will allow the male to land and pair, while unreceptive females will fly off or otherwise discourage mating. Males are strongly territorial and will see off potential rivals, sometimes chasing small birds as well as other birdwing species. The flight is usually high in the rainforest canopy, but both sexes descend to within a few meters of the ground while feeding or laying eggs.
Threats and conservation
![Ornithoptera alexandrae](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Ornithoptera_alexandrae.jpg)
The Queen Alexandra's birdwing is considered
endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...
by the
IUCN,
being restricted to approximately of coastal rainforest near
Popondetta
Popondetta (sometimes spelled Popondota) is the capital of Oro (Northern) Province in Papua New Guinea. Popondetta is a city.
In 1951 the city became the focus of relief efforts after nearby Mount Lamington erupted and killed 4,000 people.
...
, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea. It is nonetheless abundant locally and requires old growth rainforest for its long-term survival. The major threat for this species is habitat destruction for
oil palm
''Elaeis'' () is a genus of palms containing two species, called oil palms. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. The African oil palm '' Elaeis guineensis'' (the species name ''guineensis'' referring to its c ...
plantations. However, the
eruption of nearby Mount Lamington in the 1950s destroyed a very large area of this species' former habitat and is a key reason for its current rarity.
The species is also highly prized by collectors, and because of its rarity, this butterfly fetches a very high price on the black market, reportedly US$8,500-10,000 in the United States in 2007.
[ In 2001, renowned Canadian researcher Gilles Deslisle was fined CA$50,000 for illegally importing six specimens of Queen Alexandra's birdwings.] In 2007, "global butterfly smuggler" Hisayoshi Kojima pleaded guilty to 17 charges after selling a number of endangered butterflies, including a pair of Queen Alexandra's birdwings priced at US$8,500, to a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...
.
Early collectors, frustrated by the height at which adults fly during the day, often used small shotguns to down specimens, but because collectors demand high quality specimens for their collections, most specimens are reared from larvae or pupae.
Although collectors are often implicated with the decline of this species, habitat destruction is the main threat.
The species is listed on Appendix I of CITES
CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...
, meaning that international commercial trade is illegal. At the 2006 meeting of the CITES Animals Committee, some suggested it should be moved to Appendix II (which would allow restricted trade in the species), as the conservation benefits of sustainable management perhaps are higher than those of the trade ban.[CITES (2006)]
Earth Negotiations Bulletin.
Summary of the 22nd Meeting of the CITES Animals Committee.
Gallery
See also
* Conservation in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea together with the West Papua region of Indonesia (New Guinea) make up a major tropical wilderness area that still contains 5% of the original and untouched tropical high-biodiversity terrestrial ecosystems. PNG in itself contains ...
* Fauna of New Guinea
The fauna of New Guinea comprises a large number of species of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, invertebrates and amphibians.
As the world's largest and highest tropical island, New Guinea occupies less than 0.5% of world's land surface, yet suppor ...
* Flagship species
In conservation biology, a flagship species is a species chosen to raise support for biodiversity conservation in a given place or social context. Definitions have varied, but they have tended to focus on the strategic goals and the socio-economi ...
* List of largest insects
References
* Parsons, Michael J. , 1984 ''The Biology and Conservation of Ornithoptera alexandrae''. In: ''The Biology of Butterflies'', edited by Vane-Wright & Ackery. Symposia R. ent. Soc. Lond. 11, pp. 27-332* Parsons, Michael J. , 1987 ''The Butterflies of Papua New Guinea''.
* Parsons, M. J. 1992. The butterfly farming and trading industry in the Indo-Australian region and its role in tropical forest conservation. ''Tropical Lepidoptera'' 3 (Suppl. 1): 1-3
pdf Full text
* Parsons, M., 1999 ''The Butterflies of Papua New Guinea - Their Systematics and Biology''. Academic Press, London
* Straatman, R. 1971 The life history of ''Ornithoptera alexandrae'' Rothschild ''Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society'' 1971 Volume 25:58-6
pdf
* D'Abrera, B. (1975) ''Birdwing Butterflies of the World''. Country Life Books, London.
*
* Haugum, J. & Low, A.M. 1978-1985. ''A Monograph of the Birdwing Butterflies''. 2 volumes. Scandinavian Press, Klampenborg; 663 pp.
* Deslisle, G. (2004) A taxonomic revision of the “birdwing butterflies of paradise”, genus Ornithoptera based on the adult morphology (Lepidoptera, Papilionidae). ''Lambillionea'', 104 (4): 1 - 151.
External links
(English and German)
Southeastern peninsula of Papua New Guinea Ecoregion
Enchanted Learning - Queen Alexandra's Birdwing Butterfly
{{Taxonbar, from=Q932602
Ornithoptera
Butterflies of Oceania
Lepidoptera of Papua New Guinea
Endangered fauna of Oceania
Butterflies described in 1907