| Rippon’s Birdwing | |
|---|---|
| Troides hypolitus cellularis. Female, upperside. | |
| Troides hypolitus. Male, at National Museum (Prague) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Papilionidae |
| Genus: | Troides |
| Species: | T. hypolitus |
| Binomial name | |
| Troides hyolitus (Cramer, 1775) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Rippon’s Birdwing (Troides hypolitus) is a birdwing butterfly endemic to the Moluccas and Sulawesi. It is not significantly threatened, but it is protected.
Troides hypolitus is a butterfly from Australasia/Indomalaya ecozone. The first description was in 1775 by Cramer. This butterfly is a member of the family Papilionidae. Troides hypolitus is black. It has a chain of golden spots on the hind wings. The females are dark-brown and they are bigger than the males.
Contents |
The wingspan is about 180–200 mm. The forewings are black. Some veins are bordered by white colour. The underside are a copy from the upside. The hindwings are grey. The outer edge is black and it contains a chain of golden spots. The veins are black. The underside is a copy from upside, but the basic colour is white.
The body (abdomen) is black and yellow, but the underside is white and yellowish. It looks like a wasp. Head and thorax are black. The nape has a red hair-coat.
Sex differences: The female covers the upper range of the wingspan and is thus larger than the male. The basic colour of the female is dark-brown. Many veins are bordered by white colour. The golden spots are bigger and they contains a black core. The underside is a copy from upside.
Troides hypolitus is found in the Australasia/Indomalaya ecozone. The distribution is restricted on Molucca Island and Celebes.
There are four subspecies:
This butterfly is strictly protected. It is listed in the appendix II from CITES. Protection provisions / Red List