Papilio anactus

1 Dainty Swallowtail at Kambah, ACT

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Identification history

Papilio anactus	3 Feb 2022	SuziBond
Papilio anactus	3 Feb 2022	Amata
Unverified	3 Feb 2022	HelenCross

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User's notes

Presumably drinking beside the creek, and weeing?!

2 comments

SuziBond wrote:

3 Feb 2022

Hi Helen, this fascinating behaviour is called mud-puddling, where the butterfly finds wet patches of soil and drinks the moisture in order to access nutrients or salts in the moisture. Impressive that you've also managed to capture the butterfly in the process of excreting the excess water obtained during the mud-puddling! Great shots.

HelenCross wrote:

3 Feb 2022

Thanks Suzi, At first I thought it must have been laying eggs but then I looked up where it does so, and it's not in sand!

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Location information

Maps Lions Youth Haven - Westwood Farm A.C.T.
Places Kambah, ACT

Sighting information

1 Abundance
HelenCross Recorded by
Collections
Insects Swallowtails (Papilionidae) Butterflies (Lepidoptera, Rhopalocera) HelenCross Canberra & Southern Tablelands NatureMapr

Additional information

25mm to 50mm Animal size

Species information

Papilio anactus Scientific name
Dainty Swallowtail Common name
Not Sensitive
Local native
Non-invasive or negligible
Up to 870m Recorded at altitude
425 images trained Machine learning
External link More information

Record quality

Images or audio
More than one media file
Verified by an expert moderator
Nearby sighting(s) of same species
GPS evidence of location
Description
Additional attributes

Australian Capital Territory

New South Wales

Queensland

Northern Territory

Western Australia

South Australia

Victoria

Tasmania