“The female Lime Butterfly (Papilio demoleus malayanus) eclosed at 10.30 am this morning. I took it out of the box and left it drying on the snake weed (Stachytarpheta indica) (above). The total number of hours that the female Lime Butterfly stayed on the snake weed was around 4 hours.
“While hanging on to the plant and drying itself, it started pumping out pheromones to attract the males of the species. Within two hours a male appeared and offered his services, which the female accepted (above).
“I noticed when the two were attached to each other end to end, the female’s last abdomen segment seemed to have retracted into itself so that it can accept the male’s sex organs which was inserted into the receptacle offered by the female.
“On breaking apart after the mating sequence, the female’s last segment of the abdomen was observed to still have a notch (above), and after about 15 minutes the notch was filled up to its’ normal pointed shape (below).
“The above account is a layman’s observation.”
KC Tsang
Singapore
13th March 2013
Visit this LINK to view the life history of the Lime Butterfly.
Bird Ecology Study Group Courtship behaviour of butterflies
[…] As females may mate once or a few times only, they need to be choosy of their partners. Choice of partners will depend on general appearance, health, etc. Once she finds a suitable partner, she and the potential partner will perch on a leaf or a branch and bring the tips of their abdomens together. They remain attached for some hours while the male deposits his package of nutrients and sperms, the spermatophore, that will fertilise her eggs LINK. […]