Ornithoptera victoriae

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Queen Victoria's Birdwing

Male O. victoriae from Guadalcanal, upperside

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Papilionidae
Subfamily:	Papilioninae
Tribe:	Troidini
Genus:	Ornithoptera
Species:	O.victoriae

Binomial name

Ornithoptera victoriae
Gray, 1856

Queen Victoria's Birdwing Ornithoptera victoriae is a birdwing butterfly found in the Solomon Islands and Bougainville Island (New Guinea).

Ornithoptera victoriae, also called Queen Victoria's Birdwing is a butterfly from Australasia / Indomalaya ecozone (Australia). The first description was in 1856 by Gray. The wingspan is about 15 – 18 cm. This butterfly is a member of the family PAPILIONIDAE.

1 Conservation
2 Description
3 Distribution
4 Species
5 External links

[edit] Conservation

Not rare, but some populations are declining due to deforestation.The Solomons Islands government is not a signatory to CITES.

[edit] Description

The fore wings are black. Next to the wing tip there is a large , green spot. There is a green area around the thorax. The underside of Ornithoptera victoriae is black. The green spot and the green area are combined. At the wing leading edge there is a large black spot. The veins are black.

The hind wings of Ornithoptera victorae are green. The edge of wing is black. At the outer edge there are three golden spots. The underside is green. The veins are partly black. At the outer edge there are three golden spots. Between these golden spots there are black spots.

The body (abdomen) is yellowish or white. Head and thorax are black. The underside is a copy of upside.

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 black or dark-brown. There are many white spots on the fore wings. Next to the thorax there are two yellow stripes. On the hind wings there are two chains of white marks. There is also one yellow spot. The underside is a copy from upside.

[edit] Distribution

Ornithoptera victoriae (Queen Victoria's Birdwing, Viktoria Vogelschwingenfalter) is a butterfly from the Australasia / Indomalaya (Australia) ecozone. The distribution is restricted on Solomon islands

[edit] Species

Ornithoptera victoriae archeri [Calderara, 1984] Ornithoptera victoriae epiphanes [Schmid, 1970] Ornithoptera victoriae isabellae [Rothschild & Jordan, 1901] Ornithoptera victoriae maramasikensis [Morita, 2000] Ornithoptera victoriae reginae [Godman & Salvin, 1888] Ornithoptera victoriae regis [Rothschild, 1895] Ornithoptera victoriae rubianus [Rothschild, 1904] Ornithoptera victoriae is, like all other Birdwings a true miracle of nature. This butterfly is strictly protected. It is listed in the appendix II from CITES.