Paris Peacock

Papilio paris

This butterfly belongs to a group known as peacock swallowtails, inhabitants of the tropical forests of Southeast Asia and Australasia. They exist as a great many subspecies and island forms, some of which are now very rare. Many peacock swallowtails share a characteristic wing pattern; delicate scatterings of intense green-coloured scales against a background of brown or black.

Collector not recorded
Sumatra, Indonesia, 1890

Trade routes established by the British Empire provided opportunities for the collection of natural history specimens, even in areas where Britain was not in direct control. In the 19th century, Sumatra was a Dutch colony, but networks established by the British East India Company, along with various Anglo-Dutch treaties, provided a route for specimens to travel back to Britain and enter museum collections.