''Papilio (Chilasa) paradoxa'', the great blue mime, is a swallowtail butterfly found in India and parts of South-East Asia. The butterfly belongs to the mime subgenus, '' Chilasa'', of the genus ''

Papilio ''Papilio'' is a genus in the swallowtail butterfly family, Papilionidae, as well as the only representative of the tribe Papilionini. The word ''papilio'' is Latin for butterfly. It includes the common yellow swallowtail (''Papilio machaon''), ...

'' (black-bodied swallowtails). It is an excellent

mimic MIMIC, known in capitalized form only, is a former simulation computer language developed 1964 by H. E. Petersen, F. J. Sansom and L. M. Warshawsky of Systems Engineering Group within the Air Force Materiel Command at the Wright-Patterson AFB in ...

of different species of ''

Euploea ''Euploea'' is a genus of milkweed butterflies. The species are generally dark in coloration, often quite blackish, for which reason they are commonly called crows. As usual for their subfamily, they are poisonous due to feeding on milkweeds and ...

'' (sub-family

Danainae Danainae is a subfamily of the family Nymphalidae, the brush-footed butterflies. It includes the Daniadae, or milkweed butterflies, who lay their eggs on various milkweeds on which their larvae (caterpillars) feed, as well as the clearwing butt ...

Description

From

Charles Thomas Bingham Charles Thomas Bingham (16 April 1848, India – 18 October 1908 West Kensington, London) was an Irish military officer and entomologist. Bingham was born in India of an old Irish family, and he was educated in Ireland.Kirby, W.F , 1909 Obitua ...

(1905) ''

The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma ''The Fauna of British India'' (short title) with long titles including ''The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma'', and ''The Fauna of British India Including the Remainder of the Oriental Region'' is a series of scientific books th ...

'', Butterflies Vol. 1:

Distribution

The butterfly is found in northern India (including

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

and

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, 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 Wells explai ...

. It is also found in southern China,

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, Laos, Kampuchea, peninsular and eastern

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

(Palawan),

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...

and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

(Sumatra, Banka, Nias, and Kalimantan).

Status

Never common but not known to be threatened. Considered rare in India by

William Harry Evans Brigadier William Harry Evans CSI CIE DSO (born 22 July 1876 in Shillong – died 13 November 1956, Church Whitfield ) was a lepidopterist and British Army officer who served in India. He documented the butterfly fauna of India, Burma and ...

and

Mark Alexander Wynter-Blyth Mark Alexander Wynter-Blyth (15 August 1906 – 16 April 1963 Leysin, Switzerland) was an English schoolteacher and amateur naturalist who wrote one of the first field guides to the butterflies of the Indian region. He was also involved in censuses ...

. 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