''Papilio (Chilasa) paradoxa'', the great blue mime, is a

swallowtail butterfly Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies in the family Papilionidae, and include over 550 species. Though the majority are tropical, members of the family inhabit every continent except Antarctica. The family includes the large ...

found in India and parts of South-East Asia. The butterfly belongs to the mime subgenus, '' Chilasa'', of the genus '' Papilio'' (black-bodied swallowtails). It is an excellent mimic of different species of '' Euploea'' (sub-family Danainae).

Description

From Charles Thomas Bingham (1905) '' The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma'', Butterflies Vol. 1:

Distribution

The butterfly is found in northern India (including Assam and Arunachal Pradesh), Bangladesh, and

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

. It is also found in southern China, Vietnam, Thailand,

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

Kampuchea Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

, peninsular and eastern Malaysia, Philippines (Palawan), Brunei and Indonesia (Sumatra, Banka, Nias, and Kalimantan).

Status

Never common but not known to be threatened. Considered rare in India by William Harry Evans and Mark Alexander Wynter-Blyth. Only one subspecies of the butterfly occurs in Indian territory, ''P. (C.) p. telearchus'' (Hewitson), which is protected by law in India.

Habitat

This is a forest species and is generally found in low elevations.

Mimicry

The typical form of the great blue mime mimics the striped blue crow ('' Euploea mulciber'') in both sexes. There also occurs in India a form ''danisepa'' which mimics the magpie crow ('' Euploea radamanthus''). Though the great mimes are easily distinguished when caught, in flight they very closely resemble the mimicked butterflies.

Habits

The flight of the mime mimics that of the species it resembles. It is fond of settling on damp patches.

References

* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1759159 Chilasa Fauna of Southeast Asia Butterflies of Asia Insects of Thailand Butterflies of Indochina Butterflies described in 1831