The Paradise Birdwing (Ornithoptera paradisea) is a species of birdwing butterfly found in New Guinea.
Arnold Pagenstecher and Staudinger both described this butterfly, under different names and the first description by Staudinger was based on a manuscript sent to him by Pagenstecher who possessed specimens from the collection of D. Wolf von Schönberg in Naumburg who had acquired them from a colonist in the then German New Guinea. Pagenstecher's name is Schoenbergia schoenbergi and the year of publication also 1893. Robert Henry Fernando Rippon in his illustrated monograph Icones Ornithopterorum (1898 to 1906) attributes the name paradisea to both entomologists i.e. as Ornithoptera paradisea Pagenstecher and Staudinger.
Ornithoptera paradisea is a large butterfly with a wingspan ranging from 140 mm to 190 mm. Males and females differ in the size, shape and colour of the wings.
Male: Males have black fore wings. The costal edge is black and there are two large, yellow gold and green bands. The underside of the male forewing is green with black veins and at the apex there is a black area. The hind wings are tiny triangles, golden and with thin tails. The inner edge of the hind wing is black and there is usually a green stripe between the golden area and the inner edge. The outer edge of the hind wing is usually green.The underside is very similar to the upperside but the inner edge is green and hairy. The hindwings have tails of uncertain selective origin.The only other tailed Ornithoptera is Ornithoptera meridionalis.
The abdomen is yellow, the head and thorax are black and green.
Female: O. paradisea is strongly sexually dimorphic and the significantly larger female covers the upper range of the wing-span.The basic colour is dark-brown. Two groups of white spots dominate the fore wing and on the hind wings there is a white area with a yellow outer edge. Between these there is a chain of black spots. The underside is very similar to the upperside, but the colours are stronger.
The abdomen is yellow, the head and thorax are black and green.
The habitat is lowland or montane primary forest. Adult males fly high around trees rarely descending to the ground. Females fly below the canopy searching for the foodplant which is a species of Aristolochia with orange fruits. The male emits a pleasant scent from the fringe of white hairs along the anal vein of the hind wing.
The egg is 4 mm. in diameter and light orange. Eggs are laid singly and are attached to the ventral surface of an Aristolochia leaf or a nearby object. The first instar larva is dark red wine colour.Instars 2-5 are velvet black and bear red tubercles with long black tips.The pupa is brown with a bright yellow and orange saddlemark.It has a waxy coating and two short, sharp spurs on abdominal segments 3-6.
The eggs are parasitised by species of Chalcidoidea and the larvae are parasitised by Braconidae. Ants, lizards and birds eat the larvae and pupae and in monsoon the larvae suffer 30% mortality.
The Paradise Birdwing is closely related to Ornithoptera meridionalis.
Ornithoptera paradisea paradisea Staudinger, 1893 Huon Peninsula to Astrolabe Bay in lowlands. This is the nominate subspecies and it is now extinct.
Ornithoptera paradisea borchi (Haugum & Low, 1974) Occurs in the Central parts of the Northern Ranges: Torricelli and Alexander Mountains, and at Dreikir, East Sepik district, at altitudes from 1500 feet but mostly from 2000 to 3000 feet. the male abdomen has a simple median pattern, the dorsal fringes are snow white, the outer margin of hindwiing averaging and additional golden and iridescent green spots present with a larger frequency than in the nominate subspecies. Females have a modified wing-shape and pattern.
Ornithoptera paradisea chrysanthemum (Kobayashi & Koiwaya, 1979)
Ornithoptera paradisea demeter (So & Sato, 1998) Type locality Papua New Guinea, Southern Highlands Province, Lake Kutubu.
Ornithoptera paradisea detanii Schäffler, 2001 Sudirman Range
Ornithoptera paradisea flavescens Rothschild, 1897 Etna Bay, probably lowland. Based on a sole female specimen and the status is doubtful. Original description
Ornithoptera paradisea arfakensis Joicey & Noakes, 1915 Arfak Mountains of the Vogelkop Peninsula, high altitude. A very distinct purely high-altitude subspecies, and the distribution is separated from that of the nominate subspecies. Considered a full species by some recent authors.
The 2004 revision by Gilles Delisle accepts three subspecies Troides paradisea paradisea, Troides paradisea chrysanthemum and Troides paradisea arfakensis Joicey & Noakes, 1915
Kingdom : Animalia
Phylum : Artropoda
Class : Insecta
Ordo : Lepidoptera
Superfam : Papilionoidea
Familia : Papilionidae
Genus : Ornithoptera
Species : Ornithoptera paradisea Straudinger 1893.
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