Rothschild's Birdwing Butterfly Male Specimen, Spectacled Birdwing, Foreign Butterfly Specimen

Scientific Name: Ornithoptera rothschildi

The Rothschild's Birdwing (Ornithoptera rothschildi) is a large butterfly belonging to the Papilionidae family. It is named after Walter Rothschild.

It inhabits altitudes above 2000 meters on Mount Alfak in New Guinea. Due to its limited habitat, it is said to have been valued at 700,000 yen when the first specimen arrived in Japan. It is one of the Birdwing species that can be relatively commonly seen on Mount Alfak.

The wingspan is approximately 11 cm. It is quite small among Birdwing butterflies. Even though it is small, it is a considerably large butterfly compared to Japanese Swallowtail butterflies. Compared to the Alexandra Birdwing, the world's largest Birdwing, it can look like a baby.

Male
The forewings are black and green, bordered in black, with black mixed sporadically within the inner green. The hindwings are black, green, and yellow, with a lot of green, making them more flashy than the forewings. Among the generally flashy species in the Birdwing genus, this is a rather subdued type. (It is still flashy among butterflies).

Female
Like other female Birdwing butterflies, it has a subdued pattern. The forewings are predominantly black with white spots scattered here and there. The hindwings, in contrast, are predominantly white with black spots scattered here and there. The entire butterfly is composed of white and black, and it surpasses the male in size.

We apologize, but we cannot guarantee against downgrading due to shipping. Please understand.
We will ship the individual pictured from Mount Alfak, West Irian Jaya.
Collected in September 2004.