Papilio xuthus continued 2

I'm glad to say that all 3 pupa made it, and 1 male and 2 females emerged. I have kept them as voucher specimens.

From top to bottom are pictures of the dorsal male, dorsal female, ventral male, and ventral female. In general, females are slightly larger than males and have more orange and blue on the hind wings. The yellow wing markings in females are also a bit larger and a more intense yellow. The male wing markings are near white, especially when taken with a camera with flash.

When I raise butterflies, I keep fairly detailed notes on their life cycle, and I keep a few voucher specimens for documentation. Typically this would include 2 pairs of males and 2 pairs of females. If I raise more than that, the rest are set free as adults or late instar larvae. Pinning and setting specimens is a very detailed and time consuming process for me, as I am rather perfectionist. I may write a blog entry detailing the process some time in the future. Typically it takes me 1-2 hours to prepare a single specimen, and it takes about another week for the specimen to dry. I then store them in a box with a tight fitting lid, away from light, which over time will cause the colors to fade. I do plan to donate my collection to a museum when I die (unless I have children to carry on my work), and my specimens are never for display or sale.

Well, that's it for Papilio xuthus. Stayed tuned for more!