InsectNet forum

Here's a longtime common favorite butterfly of
a most unusual green/black color combination.
Specimens have to be stored in darkness to retain
a reasonable semblence of their natural green
coloration.

Still, even under the best conditions they never
look quite as good as when freshly hatched !
The green coloration still loses some of its depth
and/or vibrancy over time....

I find that all species of Heliconius fade over time. When seen alive the colours are much more vibrant in most species I think.

I have a somewhat beat-up specimen of Siproeta stelenes that faded over time. It looked like the P.dido pictured. So I decided to enhance the color with a green marker to see if I could make it look more like it did when it was alive. It worked pretty well, but I would never try to sell it or pass it off as its natural color.

I wonder how well the green preserves on Papilio phorcas? -