Chilasa clytia clytia

Linnaeus 1758 - The Common Mime

Koh Samui only.

A very interesting species occurring in two form groups, a brown one and a black/grey striped group. One of each group has been found, so far, on Samui, f. onpape for the former, and f. dissimillima for the latter. Of the two, f. dissimillima is by far the more common.

Both groups mimic various members of the Danainae family, with varying degrees of success (the Brown group being rather better at mimicing Euploea species than the Black/grey group are of Ideopsis, Parantica and Tirumala species).

This butterfly is uncommon, but can be found in secondary growth, and often visits gardens to feed on Ixora and Lantana flowers. It is interesting to note that the larval foodplants have strong smelling leaves used locally in making soap, and the male adult butterfly, if smelt close to (not recommended), exhibit a perfumed fragrance (the females less so).

Flight Period

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
x	x		x	x		x	x		x	x	x

Wingspan

75 - 95mm

Early Stages

More detailed life history information is available from the following resource: ButterflyCircle Blog (courtesy of Dr. Horace Tan.)

Larval Foodplant

Cinnamomum, Litsea sp. (Lauraceae)

Range

Nepal to Thailand and Malaysia (Other subspecies are found in Sri Lanka, India to South China, Philippines and the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia)