InsectNet forum

A great photo of one of my favorite species of the subgenus Achillides, Papilio krishna -



http://www.flutters.org/home/photogalle ... re&id=2331

Two things which strike me here.
The first is sadly how mounted specimens never quite fully retain the incredible beauty & vibrance of living butterflies. This lovely photograph is testament to that
The second in how unobtainable this species was to collectors in general & certainly for myself here in the U.K. during the 1970s, 1980s & 1990s.
It was only with the dawn of the Internet that this species became generally available. At a price.
I now have three subspecies in my collection. Believe I have shared this photo before but it bears re-posting for this thread I think.
Top row left to right. Male P. k charlesi(China) Male P k thawgawa(Myanmar/Burma)
Bottom row a pair of the nominate subspecies from India

Thanks for posting photos of your specimens - very nice! Indeed, until just a few years ago, I had never even heard of this species. It's become rather widely available now, but still goes for a somewhat high price in comparison to many other Achillides swallowtails. I have one male charlesi, and one male thawgawa.

daveuk wrote: ↑Sun Jan 29, 2023 11:18 pm The first is sadly how mounted specimens never quite fully retain the incredible beauty & vibrance of living butterflies. This lovely photograph is testament to that

I suspect that dead P. krishna or paris would look similarly bright in sunlight, which makes the green scales really stand out.

Adam.

The nominate subspecies P. krishna krishna from northern India is very difficult to obtain nowadays.

In light bright enough to show the green/blue scaling the white background will typically tell the camera to auto-darken the photo, and the result is that the image is darker than real life. It's even worse when the image is printed and not backlit on a screen.

This reflects on Tom's post which is running today concerning using a black background. I'd say put one on black and see what happens; I can't, I gave away all my Achillides recently.

does anyone have P. krishna manipuri Tytler, 1939 in the collection ?
I have never seen a specimen of this ssp.
I only know the illustration by D'Abrera

D'Abrera (1982) illustrated 2 females. The GART/GloBIS project photographed a pair in the BMNH Type collection which are not the same specimens as those in D'Abrera's book (I have copies of these photos), but these are not available on the Papilio krishna page of the GloBIS website
http://www.globis.insects-online.de/spe ... ree_seq=11

I have not seen any other specimens apart from those in BMNH. Shimogori (1997) did not illustrate this subspecies in his Achillides book.

Adam.

adamcotton wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 5:16 pm D'Abrera (1982) illustrated 2 females. The GART/GloBIS project photographed a pair in the BMNH Type collection which are not the same specimens as those in D'Abrera's book (I have copies of these photos), but these are not available on the Papilio krishna page of the GloBIS website
http://www.globis.insects-online.de/spe ... ree_seq=11

I have not seen any other specimens apart from those in BMNH. Shimogori (1997) did not illustrate this subspecies in his Achillides book.

Adam.

A photo sent to me by my good friend the late Danny Burk

I have just received a male of P. krishna mayumiae.
The specimen is much darker than the holotype.
There is almost no green dusting left on the forewings and the yellow band is even more reduced and almost obliterated.
The dates are: Mu Chang Chai, Prov. Yén Bái, 1700 m, N-Vietnam (about 100 km further south than where the holotype was found)