Krishna peacock

A large beautiful butterfly with a prominent swallowtail, the Krishna peacock has a wingspan of 120 to 130 mm (4.7 to 5.1 in) It has black upper forewings with a thin prominent yellow discal band running across the wing, parallel to the body. The upper hindwing has a large blue discal patch which tapers off into a greenish yellow band from its lower edges inwards towards the dorsum. It has a series of red-mauve capped crescents (usually five). The upper hindwing discal band appears on the under hindwing also as a prominent curved yellow discal band.

Resembles Papilio paris generally, but differs in many points as follows: Upperside: ground colour more of a brownish black, irrorated similarly to parti with, green scales, but the scales smaller and more sparsely spread. Forewing: the postdiscal transverse band well defined, complete, formed of white scaling with only a thin sprinkling of green scales on its inner margin, generally erect or slightly curved, rarely slightly sinuous. Hindwing: upper discal patch metallic greenish blue, smaller than in P. paris, but the portions of it in interspaces 6 and 7 more extended towards the termen, the metallic golden-green band that joins the patch on its inner side to the dorsal margin more conspicuous than in P. paris; the tornal ocellus as in P. …

Sikkim, Bhutan, Darjeeling, Nagaland, Manipur, Myanmar and all around the Himalayas.

The following food plants from family Rutaceae have been recorded:

Evodia fraxinifolia Citrus species Zanthoxylum species