3) Sp. croesus Wallace, 185924)
This species is found only on the Maluku (=Molucca) Islands in the northwest of distribution of subgenus Ornithoptera. The iridescent scaling of ♂ is golden yellow orange or red orange instead of golden green, golden blue-green and golden blue in the other species priamus of the same subgenus. In addition, the semi-translucent golden spots on HW are the largest in this subgenus, extending to the cell. The morphology of the genitalia of ♂ is also different from that of the other species, and the spots of ♀ are very large except for the nominotypical ssp. croesus from Bacan Is. Taking these into consideration, this species may have been separated from the common ancestor of genus Ornithoptera at a very early stage.
(Distribution) [DCD 7]
![[DCD 7]](https://www.ag.kagawa-u.ac.jp/birdwingbutterflies/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/DCD7-scaled.jpg){kind=link}
Endemic to Maluku (=Molucca) Islands (between Celebes Is. and Irian Jaya).
(Vertical Distribution)
0 – 1,000 m. a. s. l.
(Spotted pattern)
♂: Ground color of wings is blackish brown. The radial band is broad, but the submarginal band is absent, and the anal band is short. On the HW, semi-translucent golden spots are present on the basal and submarginal areas, and they are the largest in the subgenus Ornithoptera. Few red hairs on the lateral thorax.
♀: Basically, a blackish brown ground color and white-gray spots covered with brown scales of the wings. The size of the spots varies among subspecies, but those from Halmahera Is. are the largest in this species.
(Larval foodplant)
Aristolochia gaudichaudii, Pararistolochia sp. A (from Bacan I.), Pararistolochia sp. B (from Halmahera I.)15).
*Ssp. (?) sananaensis Tsukada & Nishiyama, 1980
f. loc. wallacei Deslisle, 1991