Papilio anactus

2 Dainty Swallowtail at Higgins, ACT

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Identification history

	Papilio anactus	10 Dec 2022	Amata
	Unidentified	10 Dec 2022	Trevor

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User's notes

Is this a Dainty Swallowtail?

8 comments

Amata wrote:

10 Dec 2022

@Trevor yes, it's a female Dainty Swallowtail.

SuziBond wrote:

11 Dec 2022

Wow, brilliant photo Trevor! @Birdy how do you know this is a female, what characteristics did you use?

Trevor wrote:

12 Dec 2022

Thanks SuziBond. It took a while but finally got one that was in focus.

Amata wrote:

12 Dec 2022

@SuziBond I believe I am correct in saying that other than the females being larger than the males, there is also a higher abundance of yellow, said in the head and abdomen, and this specimen has a larger concentration of yellow compared to other individuals which are most likely male.

SuziBond wrote:

13 Dec 2022

Thanks Birdy. Yes the females are slightly larger than the males (females have a wingpan of 72 mm compared to the male wingspan of 67 mm), but this difference is difficult to pick in the field. I have not heard of the rest of the features you mention to separate females from males, could you share which reference or website you're using for this information? Michael Braby notes 'the sexes are very similar and best separated by external genitalia' in his Butterflies of Australia two volume set (published in 2000 by CSIRO).

Trevor wrote:

13 Dec 2022

@Birdy I forgot to thank you for identifying. It is appreciated. Also finding your discussions with @SuziBond interesting, as I'm more a photographer than butterfly expert. Hoping I might get another chance to take some shots. The Daintys in our park don't seem to 'land' at all so have reverted to honing my in-flight skills.

Amata wrote:

14 Dec 2022

@Trevor thanks for the reply, I rarely get thank yous for comment identifications, so thank you.

Now as for my source I got it from the field guide Butterflies of Australia in which through analysation of the sex plates I was able to discern the difference by a higher concentration of yellow in the female than the male.

SuziBond wrote:

15 Dec 2022

@Birdy thanks for that. Not sure which edition you've got, but the Dainty Swallowtails shown in the second edition (page 61) are a male specimen to illustrate the upperside of the butterfly, and a female specimen to illustrate the underside, is that the same with your field guide? The underside showing the coverage of yellow is consistent between the sexes, it just happens to be a female specimen shown here. Does that make sense?

@Trevor please keep the amazing butterfly photos coming! Another way of assessing the gender of your butterfly is to watch their behaviour - is your butterfly egg-laying, for example?

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