National Museum of Natural Science

The Goliath birdwing belongs to a clade in the subgenus Schoenbergia with divergence around the late Miocene (11.62-5.33 million years ago) and has seven subspecies. Wingspan is 11-14 cm. Among males, the background color of the forewings is black with two gold-green stripes in the central anterior area. The hindwings have large gold and three black markings. This species is distributed in the Australasian realm (New Guinea and nearby islands) and listed in Appendix II of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).

Ornithoptera tithonus