ƒ/8.0
50.0 mm
1/40
800
Flash (on, fired)
Unfortunately, this butterfly was dead when we found it. I chose to display it on a piece of wood, on a piece of black acrylic glass.
I took the photo indoors with no ambient light.
This is the Citrus Swallowtail
Papilio demodocus
This is a very common and widespread species all over Africa and its caterpillars are familiar to all who own a lemon tree. There are 38 records in the VM, and one reason there aren’t more is that it’s a very active and fast flier. Not the easiest butterfly to capture on an image file! The same goes for all members of the Swallow- and Swordtail family, Papilionidae. This is not a big family and only six species are found in the Kloof LepiMAP list. The young caterpillars resemble bird droppings and the full-grown ones’ green colour with grey bands makes them well camouflaged. The chrysalis (or pupa) resembles a broken-off twig or piece of bark.