my favorite ornithoptera specimen

Sorry but that is WAY incorrect. There is a VERY good reason why they should imitate each other. Predators only need to learn to avoid one colour pattern in any one area. The same phenomenon can be seen across the range of Ornithoptera and in many other Troidini. For example in alexandrae territory many females of priamus look very similar to the female of alexandrae.

A more familiar example to me is that of Troides helena. In West Malaysia the female of helena generally looks very like the male, with dark forewings, but in mainland SE Asia where T. aeacus is much commoner than T. helena the female of helena usually has grey streaks in the forewings just like the female of aeacus. This form is rather rarer in W. Malaysia, where aeacus is much rarer than helena.

Another example is the dark Byasa polyeuctes in China. Across Asia B. polyeuctes has a white patch on the hindwings, as do other Byasa species, but in China there occur several dark species (impediens, mencius, plutonius, confusus) and where these are common Byasa polyeuctes either has a reduced or no white spot on the hindwing. In these areas the Batesian mimic, Papilio bootes also has a common all dark form, whereas the form with a white spot on the hindwings is much rarer.

In Neotropical Parides, different species look very similar to each other in one locality, whereas the same group of several species look different to those from the first locality in other localities (but still similar to the other from the same place). This is one reason it is often quite difficult to tell some species of Parides apart at a glance.

The difference between Batesian mimicry and Mullerian mimicry is that in Batesian mimicry the supposedly edible mimic is gaining an advantage by copying the pattern of the model and the model doesn't gain any advantage at all, whereas in Mullerian mimicry all the species involved are distasteful, so they ALL gain an advantage by looking the same to a predator. If there are 5 different species the predators only need to learn to avoid a single colour pattern.

timmsyrj asked about the situation with paris and karna. This is not mimicry at all. The reason they look alike is simply because they are very closely related, and result from a species being isolated in 2 different places, evolving into 2 separate species and once the barrier causing isolation is removed (sea level change in this case). The 2 species can no longer interbreed after they meet, but still look very similar. Neither of them gains an advantage by looking similar to the other, so there is no mimicry involved.

Adam.

Thank you, Peter, for the additional corroboration of my points on Ornithoptera. Indeed, poseidon females clearly correspond with the local females of other Ornithoptera species. I used the alexandrae example because it is very striking. In the Popondetta region there is a preponderance of dark poseidon females which look very similar to alexandrae females.

Adam.

anyone else have photos? they have all been wonderful so far.

Nice specimens laurie 1, but don't you collect the females or do you just keep them tucked away out of sight.

Hey Rich, yep, lots and lots of females still to set (although have set quite a few ).

grafvalent, your Ornithoptera seem almost as if they are Virtual specimens, far too amazing, congratulations! I also have to add, great photographic/setting skills.