Papilio ulysses
The mountain blue swallowtail, also known as the Ulysses butterfly, is a member of the subgenus Achillides. Wingspan is 10-14 cm. The forewings and hindwings of the male are lustrous royal blue near the center of the body and black along the margins and on the tail extensions of the hindwings. Along the black margins of the hindwings are light blue markings. The females are duller in color. The larvae feed on plants of the Citrus, Euodia, and Melicope genera in the family Rutaceae. This species began to diverge during the late Miocene, around 10 million years ago, into three evolutionary branches (populations). After warming during the Miocene and the Pliocene-Pleistocene glacial-interglacial cycles, divergence resulted in as many as 15 subspecies, widely distributed in the Australasian realm (the Moluccas, New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Islands, and northeastern Australia).
