Dear Nature Lovers,
Greetings from oikos !

Blue Mormon is a member of family ‘Papilionidae’.
Name comes from its color on wings.
Scientific name : Papilio polymnestor. Family : Papilionidae
Recently declared as ‘State Butterfly of Maharashtra’.
Blue Mormon is the second largest butterfly in peninsular India, 
second only to the Southern Birdwing.
It is endemic to peninsular India and Sri Lanka. 
Blue Mormon is most common in forests that receive heavy rainfall. 
It occurs also in riparian forests and moist deciduous forests. 
It can be found on forest paths and along streams. 
It has strong, dipping flight, flashing its pale blue colours.

The male avoids the shade and flies in sunny patches to look for flowers which have long corolla tubes and large nectar reserves such as Mussaenda frondosa, Ixora coccinia, Jasminum spp., Asystasia gangetica etc. 
Usually the female keeps to the shade and dense forest cover and therefore out of sight. The male has to search for a female and for this purpose it makes trips into thicker forests along the streams and forest edges.

Larval Food plants: 
Atlantia racemosa, A. wightii, Glycosmis arborea, Paramigyna monophylla, Citrus grandis, C. limon and other cultivated Citrus spp.
माकड लिंबू – Atlantia racemosa 
Common tree found in high rainfall areas of Western Ghats.
Being from Citrus family, leaves have strong smell.
Monkeys eat its fruits so the local Marathi name is Makad Limbu. 

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