Ornithoptera croesus

Wallace's Golden Birdwing (Ornithoptera croesus) is a birdwing butterfly found in northern Maluku. It is a member of the Ornithoptera priamus species-group which, including croesus, is only found east of Weber's Line (see approximation Wallace Line). the larval foodplant is Pararistolochia. Matsuka (2001) illustrates the early stages (from N. Maluku; see also Igarashi, 1979).

Status: Vulnerable (Collins & Morris, 1985).

'The beauty and brilliancy of this insect are indescribable, and none but a naturalist can understand the intense excitement I experienced when I at length captured it. On taking it out of my net and opening the glorious wings, my heart began to beat violently, the blood rushed to my head, and I felt much more like fainting than I have done when in apprehension of immediate death. I had a headache the rest of the day, so great was the excitement produced by what will appear to most people a very inadequate cause' Alfred Russel Wallace The Malay Archipelago (1869).

External links

• Ornithoptera croesus at Ngypal
• www.butterflycorner.net (english/german)