Exhibition: The Birdwing Butterflies of Papua New Guinea

Birdwing butterflies, a group that includes the largest butterflies in the world, are the focus of a colorful new display at the University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology.

The exhibition, The Birdwing Butterflies of Papua New Guinea, features specimens from the Georgia Museum of Natural History assembled by James W. Porter, Meigs Professor of Ecology Emeritus. They are accompanied by photographs by Carolyn Crist of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and explanatory text by Porter about the butterflies’ ecology, collection history and the extraordinary efforts being made to conserve them.

Species featured in the exhibit include:

Wallace’s Golden Birdwing (aka Flying Chocolate), Ornithoptera croesus Wallace

Goliath Birdwing (aka Flying Mangoe), Ornithoptera goliath

Magellan Birdwing (aka Flying Gold), Troides magellanus

Southern Tailed Birdwing (aka Meridian Birdwing), Ornithoptera meridionalis

Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing (aka Brook’s Birdwing), Trogonoptera brookiana

Rippon’s Birdwing (aka Checker-spot Birdwing), Troides hypolitus

Common Green Birdwing (aka Flying Lime), Ornithoptera priamus