EndemicInsecta · LepidopteraTerrestrial
Richmond Birdwing
Ornithoptera richmondia
Field Notes
- ◦Caterpillars can develop on only one native vine species in warm lowland forest and a second, related vine at cooler higher elevation, forcing highland colonies to shift downslope each winter to survive.
- ◦Iridescent green and gold wing patches flash against black margins, with males marked by a small red patch at the base of the wings and a rapid, powerful flight generated mainly by the forewings.
- ◦Larvae die if they mistakenly feed on a toxic ornamental vine that closely resembles their native host plant, an ecological trap that appears wherever the lookalike has been planted as garden cover.
Playable range · 1° global raster; derived from GBIF per-cell occurrence density, vagrant-trimmed by a cumulative record-count threshold, morphologically closed, small-and-distant components pruned, clipped to a Natural Earth 1:110m realm mask
An occurrence-derived extent built from open GBIF data for play and learning — not an assessor-produced range map. Method and version
Open evidence snapshot · 542 GBIF records / 9 cells
Retrieved 2026-08-24 · Only CC0 and CC BY records retained (server-side license=CC0_1_0/CC_BY_4_0 filter); CC BY-NC and unlicensed records excluded.
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