Common Butterflies in Hong Kong

Common Mormon (Papilio polytes)
‍Wing span: 8-10 centimetres
Their wings are black and they have tails. The males have wins with obvious horizontal milky stripes. Females have two forms: Form Mandane which looks like the male Common Mormon and Form Polytes. Form Polytes have white speckles instead of stripes and there are red marks on their hindwings.

Red Helen (Papilio helenus)
Wing span: 9-12 centimetres
They have tails and white speckles on their hindwings, there are moon-shaped red marks in the marginal areas of their hindwings.

Paris Peacock (Papilio paris)
Wing span: 8-10 centimetres
Large in body size and they appear to glide more than fly. There are many shiny green spots on their black wings, large blue speckles and they long black tails on their hindwings.

Great Mormon (Papilio memnon)
Wing span: 11-14 centimetres
It is of sexual dimorphism. The males have black wings with red marks on the base of their forewings but have no tails. The hindwings of the females have white patches, with or without tails.

Spangle (Papilio protenor)
Wing span: 9-11 centimetres
They are a large Swallowtail with no tails. They fly slow and they have black wings with obvious venation. Their wings are a shiny blue colour on the upper side, with red marks on the edge of their hindwings. Spangle looks like a male Great Mormon but have longer hindwings and no red basal marks on forewings.

Common Bluebottle (Graphium sarpedon)
Wing span: 7-8 centimetres
With sharp and long forewings and greenish blue vertical stripes. There are red speckles on the underside of their hindwings. Males and females have similar outlook. They fly extremely fast and only stop to eat.

Mottled Emigrant (Catopsilia pomona)
‍Wing span: 6-7 centimetres
Their wings are pale yellow with a few black spots whilst the tip of the forewings is black. For some individuals there are small red speckles on the underside of their wings.

Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hecabe)
Wing span: 4-5 centimetres
Their wings are a bright yellow with black wide stripes at the edge on the upper side. On the underside are reddish brown spots although their numbers vary. One of the most common butterflies in Hong Kong, they fly very slowly but are very sensitive.

Indian cabbage White (Pieris canidia)
Wing span: 5-5.5 centimetres
Flying slowly, their wings are snow white in colour with light black speckles on the wings, giving them an impression of elegance. Their larvae like to feed on crucifer, like Chinese White Cabbage and Chinese Kale so they are treated by farmers as harmful insects.

Painted Jezebel (Delias pasithoe)
Wing span: 4-5 centimetres
Wings are black in colour with white speckles on the upper side. There are obvious venation, white speckles and red basal speckles on the forewings. And there are sharp yellow marks on the hindwings. They are not difficult to approach as they like to fly low.

Great Orange Tip (Hebomoia glaucippe)
Wing span: 8-9 centimetres
The largest Whites in Hong Kong. They like to fly quickly and rarely stop moving. Their wings are mainly white with orange marks engulfed by black lines at the tip of the forewings.

Pale Grass Blue (Zizeeria maha)
Wing span: 2-3 centimetres
The upper side of the wings of male Pale Grass Blues is light blue with deep grey margins while the females are grey blue. The underside of wings of both males and females is light grey and has deep brown speckles. The adult Pale Grass Blue is active near the Sorrel (Oxalis repens) which is their larval food plant.

Common Hedge Blue (Acytolepis puspa)
Wing span: 3 centimetres
It is of sexual dimorphism. Male Common Hedge Blues have wings with upper side metallic blue in colour while those of females are off-white. Underside of their wings are pale grey with brow spots and wavy speckles.

Long-tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus)
Wing span: 3 centimetres
The upper side of their wings is purplish brown while the underside is brown with parallel white wavy patterns on it. There are orange and black eyespots and small silver tails at the hindwings.

Purple Sapphire (Heliophorus epicles)
‍Wing span: 3 centimetres
The wings of this pretty Blue are pale yellow underside, with orange red stripes on the edges. The males have shiny purplish-blue marks on the upper side of their wings.

Blue-spotted Crow (Euploea midamus)
‍Wing span: 7-8 centimetres
There are many small white spots on their dark brown wings. On the underside they have two rows of tidy white spots near the margin and on the upper side of the forewings appears a shiny purplish blue under sunlight. Their colour is even sharper than that of Common Indian Crow.

Glassy Tiger (Parantica aglea)
Wing span: 7-8 centimetres
Their abdomen is light brown. Their wing venation is black in colour and they have light blue wing bands. Their wings appear to be transparent under light. Glassy Tiger is light, and fly in a gliding way that is very beautiful.

Ceylon Blue Glassy Tiger (Ideopsis similis)
Wing span: 8-8.5 centimetres
The surface of their wings is dark brown in colour and has semi-transparent blue bands distributed evenly. The upper side and underside of their wings have similar pattern. They fly very slowly and like to glide.

Common Tiger (Danaus genutia)
‍Wing span: 7-8 centimetres
Their wings are reddish orange and their venation are black making them resemble the patterns of a tiger. The males and females are almost the same in appearance but for the male black pouch. Common Tiger often migrate and winter in large groups.

Bush Hopper (Ampittia dioscorides)
Wing span: 2-2.5 centimetres
They are small but move very quickly. The upper side of their wings is yellowish brown, with a lot of black speckles.

Restricted Demon (Notocrypta curvifascia)
Wing span: 3.5-4 centimetres
The upper side of their wings is blackish brown. There are obvious white marks on the forewings and some individuals have white spots. Female Restricted Demons are slightly larger and their white speckles are more obvious. They love to enjoy sunshine on the leaves.

Common Five-ring (Ypthima baldus)
Wing span: 3-4 centimetres
Their wings are mainly brown. There are eyespots at the underside. The inner circle of the eyespot is black and the outer circle is yellow. There is a large eye speckle on the upper side of each forewing and several small eyespots on each hindwing. They like to open their wings under sunshine.

Dark-band Bush Brown (Mycalesis mineus)
Wing span: 4-5 centimetres
The underside of their wings is light brown and there are a tilted white stripe and parallel eyespots on it. The upper side of their wings is deep brown and there is an eyespot with a white pupil on each forewing. Their pair of eyespots are lively and look like real.

Banded Tree Brown(Lethe confusa)
Wing span: 5-6 centimetres
Their wings are deep brown. There are obvious white tilted stripes at the tip of their forewings. There are different sizes of black eyespots located in parallel at the edges of the hindwings. Some of the eyespots even have white 'pupils'. They look like eyes of large animals.

Common Evening Brown (Melanitis leda)
Wing span: 6-7 centimetres
They are the largest Browns in Hong Kong. Their wings are brown. There are two connected eyespots on the upper side of the forewings. The patterns at the underside of their wings vary a lot. There are obvious eyespots and tiny speckles in wet season form. For dry season form, they have no eyespots and look like dried leaves.

Large Faun (Faunis eumeus)
Wing span: 6-7 centimetres
The wings are dark brown in colour, with white circular spots on the underside of their wings and it is like a pearl necklace. They are active near ground and can be easily approached because they fly quite slowly.

Rustic (Cupha erymanthis)
‍Wing span: 5-5.5 centimetres
They often glidingly fly under sunshine. The upper side of their wings are brown and their tips are black. While the underside of their wings is yellowish brown and has irregular speckles and black spots.

Indian Fritillary (Argyreus hyperbius)
Wing span: 7-8 centimetres
Males and females look different. The upper side of the wings of males are yellowish orange in colour with many black spots on them. On their hindwings there are black wavy patterns on the edge. The female Indian Fritillary imitates the poisonous Plain Tiger. They have black, white and deep blue tilted stripes at the end of their forewings.

Common Mapwing (Cyrestis thyodamas)
‍Wing span: 4.5-5 centimetres
Their appearances are quite special. With speckles on the upper side and underside, their wings look like a map hence the name Mapwing. There are small tails and irregular wavy speckles at the edge of wings.

Common Sailer (Neptis hylas)
Wing span: 5-5.5 centimetres
There are three white horizontal bands on the black upper side of their wings. The underside is a reddish brown and has white horizontal bands and spots. The male Common Sailers are territorial, driving out butterflies that fly near.

Blue Admiral (Kaniska canace)
Wing span: 6 centimetres
The upper side of their wings is a darkish brown with an eye-catching semi-circular blue wide stripe. The underside of their wings is like dried leaves helping them to camouflage themselves in the forest.

Large Faun (Abisara echerius)
‍Wing span: 3.5-4 centimetres
The wings are dark brown in colour, with white circular spots on the underside of their wings and it is like a pearl necklace. They are active near ground and can be easily approached because they fly quite slowly.

Punchinello (Zemeros flegyas)
‍Wing span: 3.5-4 centimetres
They have reddish brown wings with a few rows of black and white speckles. They have similar habits as Plum Judy.