Purple-spotted Swallowtail

Graphium weiskei belongs to Papilionidae and is commonly called the purple-spotted swallowtail. The National Museum of Natural Science places it in the Graphium subgenus Idaides. [2][6]

Black wings carry sharply separated green, blue, pink and purple patches, with pale spots toward the forewing margins and long hindwing tails. The Taiwanese museum account gives a wingspan of 5–6 cm. [2]

The species inhabits the high mountains of New Guinea. A Museums Victoria specimen was collected at Daulo Pass, Papua New Guinea, on 20 July 1971. [2][4]

The museum account lists Dryadodaphne crassa in Monimiaceae and Cryptocarya in Lauraceae as larval hosts. Its compiled host list also includes the rutaceous genera Citrus, Zanthoxylum, Euodia and Phellodendron. [2]

A 2023 study linked the wing palette to pigments that absorb different portions of incident light. Spectral measurements indicate mixtures of sarpedobilin and papiliochrome II in blue areas. An additional absorber, tentatively named weiskeipigment, intensifies blue colour and produces purple where sarpedobilin is less concentrated. [3]

Graphium weiskei appears in Müller and Tennent’s 1999 comparative treatment of the weiskei group. The Daulo Pass specimen provides a dated museum record under this species name. [4][5]

The upper surface displays the multicoloured patchwork against black wing fields. The reverse has a different arrangement of pale and coloured regions; the long tails form part of both silhouettes. [2]

Bold dark contours define the wing outline and tails. Flat green, blue, pink and purple regions retain the specimen’s characteristic pattern, with the body and antennae integrated into the composition. [2]

Keep a physical specimen in a closed, stable enclosure away from direct sunlight, heat and moisture. Avoid touching the wings or tails, and inspect the display regularly for insect damage. [1]

How is the colour produced? The pigment study attributes much of the palette to subtractive mixing: several absorbers remove different wavelengths from the light reflected by the wing. [3]

Where does it occur? Its documented range is New Guinea’s highlands, including the Daulo Pass museum locality. [2][4]

The National Museum of Natural Science and Museums Victoria provide the geographical and specimen records. Stavenga’s 2023 paper examines wing pigments, while Müller and Tennent’s comparative treatment places the species within its Graphium group. [2][3][4][5]