(Photo: courtesy of Dr. Margaret Humphrey)
Don Herbison-Evans (
donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley
(updated 2 March 2007)
This species is probably named after Agamemnon, the great but cursed king of of Ancient Greece.
The Caterpillar of this species is dark green or brown with a white patch and a humped thorax. Each segment has a short black spine on each side, and the tail has a pair of black-tipped yellow spines. The Caterpillar feeds by day on the young leaves of various ANNONACEAE, including the introduced:
and the Australian natives :
The pupa is green with some brown markings, and is usually attached to a leaf by cremaster and girdle.
The adult butterflies have a wing span around 8 cms. The upper surfaces of the wings are black with rows of green spots, although in dead specimens, the green fades to yellow.
 upper surface |  underside |
The underside is brown with fewer spots, some of which are green, but others are various colours including black, red, white and blue.
The eggs are pale yellow and laid singly on the leaves of a foodplant.
Various subspecies of this insect are found across south-east Asia and the Pacific Islands, including :
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Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp. 263-264.
 caterpillar |
 butterflies |
 caterpillars |
 moths |
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