A blue made of light
The wings have no blue dye. Tiny ridges on the scales reflect only blue light, so the colour seems to glow.
Tropical north · Butterflies and moths
Ulysses butterfly
Papilio ulysses
A large swallowtail butterfly, electric blue on velvet black, with a tail on each hindwing.
- Size
- Wingspan about 10 to 13cm
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Rainforest and gardens of tropical north Queensland
Flashes after you in blue bursts. Move your pointer and see.
When to look
Ulysses butterfly
Good to know
Six things about the ulysses butterfly
Now you see it
The underside is dull brown. As it flies, the blue flashes on and off, which makes it very hard for a bird to follow.
Seen from far away
The flashes can be seen from hundreds of metres away.
Queensland's butterfly
It is used as an emblem for tourism in tropical Queensland.
One favourite tree
Its caterpillars feed mostly on the pink-flowered euodia tree, and planting it has helped the butterfly to recover.
Also called the blue mountain swallowtail
It lives in New Guinea and nearby islands too.
The real thing
Photos of the ulysses butterfly
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Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
How to spot one
Stand at a rainforest edge or by a flowering garden on a sunny morning and watch for a flicker of blue high among the trees.
How to help
Gardeners in north Queensland plant euodia trees for it. One tree can bring Ulysses butterflies back to a street.
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