The Makiling Botanic Gardens (MBG) Wildlife of the Month (WOM) for Decemberber 2023 is the Green Dragontail Butterfly, scientifically known as Lamproptera meges (Zincken 1831) from the family Papilionidae. The wildlife is an indigenous species to South and Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, South China (including Hainan and Zhangjiajie from Hunan Province), Cambodia, East Malaysia and, the Indonesian Archipelago, Philippines, and Brunei).
It has a life span of around 7 to 12 days and lives mostly in tropical and sub-tropical rainforests, mostly near streams, waterfalls, and rivers, as well as on leaves found near bushes.
The butterfly is described to have a black and white color pattern that runs throughout its body while its caterpillar has a dark green body spotted in black. The chrysalis or pupa is stuck to a leaf’s upper surface by its cremaster (hook-like tip). Its known host plants are Illigera burmanica King of the Hernandiaceae family and Zanthoxylum genus (in the Philippines).
By: AALimpiada and ACMalayba