Range endemic to north-eastern Australia. The wingspan can be up to 15 cm (5.9 in) in females, and 12.5 cm (4.9 in) in males. Males have a predominantly black upper wing with emerald green flashes, however the female lacks the green colouring, having a plain black upper wing with white patches. The female is the larger of the two sexes. Cairns birdwings are found southwards from Mount Webb and Cooktown to Mackay in Queensland. Its favoured habitat is rainforest of the Queensland wet tropics region, including riverine forest, and particularly near the coast. It is also often seen in Cairns, attracted to the flowers of Lantana, Hibiscus and Bougainvillea in suburban gardens.

The species is abundant throughout its range and is not threatened. Both sexes support their weight when feeding at flowers by rapidly fluttering their wings. Males occasionally compete for flowers with other nectarivores, such as small birds, and usually succeed at driving them off by aggressively flying towards them.

Adults are very likely to be unpalatable to vertebrates, due to feeding on Aristolochia as a larva, although they do sometimes fall prey to the golden silk orb-weaver spider

Tucson, AZ.
Tucson Botanical Garden

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