Ornithoptera croesus
Wallace’s golden birdwing is a sister species of the common green birdwing (Ornithoptera priamus). These two species diverged around the Pleistocene epoch (5.5 million years ago). Male wingspan is approximately 17 cm and female wingspan can reach 20 cm. The British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace published and named this species in 1859. There are six subspecies. The wing pattern of females is white and gray. Among males, the forewings are black, with the anterior half gold-reddish orange and the posterior half black. The adults visit flowers in the early morning and at dusk and are often active in the canopy. They prefer to gilde. The larvae feed on birthworts (Aristolochia spp.). Their distribution is in the Mollucas in Wallacea. This species is listed in Appendix II of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and in the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List of Threatened Species.
