Ornithoptera goliath
| Goliath birdwing | |
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| Male dorsal side above, female ventral side below | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Papilionidae |
| Tribe: | Troidini |
| Genus: | Ornithoptera |
| Species: | O. goliath |
| Binomial name | |
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Ornithoptera goliath Oberthür, 1888 |
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Ornithoptera goliath, the Goliath birdwing, is a birdwing butterfly found in New Guinea. It is the second largest butterfly in the world, after the Queen Alexandra's birdwing.
Both the specific and vernacular name are named after Goliath, the biblical giant famous for his combat with the young David, the future king of Israel. The subspecific names atlas, titan and samson refer to other giants namely Atlas, Titan and Samson.
Ornithoptera goliath is strongly sexually dimorphic.
Ornithoptera goliath has a wingspan up to 28 centimetres (11 in). This makes it the world's second largest butterfly. The African giant swallowtail reaches an almost equal wingspan.
Male. The Goliath birdwing's forewings are black. The edge is green and beyond the medium black bar is a large green triangle which reaches the dorsum but not the black ternum. The underside is greenish yellow and greenish. The veins are black and there is a black border. The outer cells have small black spots. The hindwings are golden with a black edge bordered basally by a thin green line. There are some green spots in the cells of the golden area. The underside is similar to the upperside, but there is no black border. The edge is green. The spots in the cells of the golden area are black.
The abdomen is yellow with black-edged tergites. The head and thorax are black and the underside of the thorax has tufts of red hair.
Female. The female is larger than the male and the basic colour is dark brown. At the outer edge there is a postdiscal chain of white spots. In the discal] cell there is a cluster of white spots, sometimes shaped like an "E". The hindwings have a broad yellow postdiscal band with a chain of dark-brown spots in the cells. The underside is very like the upper but the colours are stronger.
Ornithoptera goliath ssp. titan male
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