Butterflies – Brown Clipper – Parthenos sylvia philippensis
There are two common colour variations of the Clipper butterflies normally on display in Butterfly Exhibitions. The above specimen which was photographed at the Carleton University “Live” Butterfly exhibit in the Fall of 2010 is the brown variation (P. s. philippensis).
The tiger-like striping of the abdomen is the primary identification feature of the species with the brown subspecies being the more common variety. The blue subspecies ( P. s. lilacinus) has a blue background rather than black background.
The range of the Clippers includes much of south and south-east Asia. They fly quickly in a stiff-winged fashion and are about 8-9 cm in size with females being somewhat larger than the males.
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