Common Butterflies of Sri Lanka

M
LC
Common Jay Graphium doson
Tailed Jay Graphium agamemnon
M
LC
Papilionidae
The sexes are alike. The forewing is elongated with a concave outer margin; the hind
wing is serrated at the outer margin but it has no tail. This butterfly’s upper side is
black in colour, with a median light blue band and sub-marginal row of spots on
both wings. The forewing cell bears some blue markings. The background colour is
much duller on the underside, and the blue markings appear enlarged due to the
pale outline. Its hind wing has red markings, including a stripe along the inner margin.
The sexes are similar in pattern, but females have longer tails. The forewing is pointed
and the outer margin is slightly serrated. The outer margin of the hind wing is clearly
serrated, with a distinct tornal tail. It is dark brown in colour with green patches
dispersed throughout. The patches are brighter towards the forewing base, and turn
yellowish towards the outer margin of the hind wing. Its underside is pale brown and
clouded with pale purplish tinged scales. The green patches are not prominent.
Papilionidae
The Common Jay is a swift flier and can always be seen flying along forest paths. Males
engage in mud puddling in large numbers on gravel roads and river beds, sometimes
together with Blue Bottles and other butterfly species. They settle down to puddle
more frequently than other Papilionids. They can be seen on flowers rarely. This is a
migrant species.
This butterfly frequents forest areas and sometimes lushly wooded home gardens. It
is distributed throughout the country except in the extreme north. It seems that there
are no breeding populations in the hill country, but occur only at migration.
LFPs: Uvaria macropoda, Miliusa indica (lels,s ueiai), Polyalthia korinti (W,a flkao)
The habits of the Tailed Jay are very similar to those of the Blue Bottle, except that they
only very rarely engage in mud puddling.
It is common throughout the country in sparsely wooded areas, and wet habitats
are not essential. It is quite unusual in forests, but can be found abundantly in home
gardens where its larval food plants are grown for fruits. Lately, its numbers in the
wet zone marshes have increased due to the propagation of the invasive alien plant
species Annona glabra (fj,a wd;a;d).
LFPs: It has nearly 20 species of larval food plants belonging to the family Annonaceae,
ranging from planted species to forested species. These include: Polyalthia cerasoides
(mÜg W,a flkao), Annona muricata (lgq wfkdaod), Xylopia championii (o;a leáh)
44 Common Butterflies of Sri Lanka
Common Butterflies of Sri Lanka 45