Ornithoptera meridionalis Rothschild, 1897

OCCURENCE

Habitat: Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland,Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane
This species is the smallest member of the genus Ornithoptera (Parsons 1999), with a high degree of sexual dimorphism. It is a species of mainly lowland forest, both primary and mature secondary forest (Collins and Morris 1985, Parsons 1999). It occurs from 20-200 m Asl. especially the breeding populations (often lower than 100 m elevation; Haugum and Low 1979), though may extend into hilly areas if the host plant is present (Collins and Morris 1985, Parsons 1999), into areas of around 1,000 m elevation (Szent-Ivany 1970). In the Lake Kutubu area, the habitat is primary hill forest (Parsons 1999).
There is some doubt as to the host plant of the species and whether it is indeed monophagous (feeding only on a single plant species): potential candidates were initially Aristolochia dielsiana and A. pithecurus (Collins and Morris 1985). However, the species is now considered monophagous on Pararistolochia meridionaliana (Parsons 1996), a species which was previously misidentified as A. schlechteri or A. dielsiana (Haugum and Low 1979, Parsons 1999).
Eggs have been reportedly parasitised by parasitic flies (most likely Trichogramma s p.) while the same parasite was not observed to attack O. priamus eggs deposited on the same host plant (Pasternak 1981). At the larval stage, natural predators include birds, tree frogs, a species of lizard and invertebrates such as bugs and spiders (Pasternak 1981).
Females are generally seen flying along marginal forest and through areas of tall, open secondary forest (Central Province, Papua New Guinea, Parsons 1999). Species exhibit strong home-ranging behaviour (i.e. do not go very far) (Szent-Ivany 1970, D'Abrera 1975a). The females lay their eggs singly on the underside of leaves of their foodplant (Szent-Ivany and Carver 1967, Haugum and Low 1979), from where they emerge after 8-10 days (Haugum and Low 1979). Females are thought to carry between 5 and 7 eggs, which is low compared to other species of birdwings (D'Abrera 1975, Collins and Morris 1985).
(IUCN 2020)

Population: This species is very rare and localised, but not uncommon where it occurs (D'Abrera 1971, Haugum and Low 1979, Collins and Morris 1985), especially in southeastern Papua New Guinea. Fenner (1976) and Parsons (1999) describes the species as reasonably common in suitable habitat. Most subpopulations occupy small pockets along southern coast where the food plant occurs, but is also sometimes absent from areas where the food plant is found (Haugum and Low 1979). Observations by Szent-Ivany and Carver (1967: frequent in the Broan and Vanapa rivers area), Parsons (1999: nine females observed in a 2 km? area over the course of four days) and Straatman (1967: females observed daily during a field trip to Central Province) suggest that while the species is overall generally rare, it is usually occasional to common locally (expect to see around 2-10 individuals over a ten-day period; Parsons 1999). The status of subspecies tarungarensis was - and remains - pretty much unknown (Haugum and Low 1979).
Range: This species is endemic to lowland areas of mainland New Guinea (Parsons 1999), where it has a bicentric distribution (Haugum and Low 1979). It is primarily known from the extreme southeastern part of Papua New Guinea, but has also been reported from Irian Jaya, Indonesia, in three to four relatively restricted areas, in the region of Kamrau Bay, in the Weyland Mountains (Kobowre Mountains) and in the area around Lake Yamur (Collins and Morris 1985, Parsons 1999, Matsuka 2001) and areas around Timika (Matsuka 2001). It is also known from single localities in the Southern Highlands and East Sepik province, but has not been reported from any of the islands (Collins and Morris 1985, Matsuka 2001). Overall, in Papua New Guinea, the species has been reported from at least seven localised populations (Parsons 1999).
The nominate subpseices meridionalis occurs in Papua New Guinea (D'Abrera 1971, Haugum and Low 1979, Parsons 1999, Matsuka 2001): the subspecies occurs in the western parts of Milne Bay district from Mailu, south of Mt Simpson and some 180 miles southeast of Port Moresby, and along the coastline past Port Moresby to Doa Estate and Brown River, Vanapa, Aroa and Angabunga rivers and into the Central District (Haugum and Low 1979, Schaeffler 2001). Subspecies tarunggarensis is restricted to south-central Irian Jaya, around Kamrau Bay and Timika (Collins and Morris 1985, Parsons 1999, Matsuka 2001, Schaeffler 2001).
The species was found sympatric with O. paradisea and O. goliath at Pimaga, Lake Kutubu (700 m) and with O. paradisea at Frieda River airstrip (Parsons 1999). Its estimated extent of occurrence is in excess of 300,000 km?. It is generally found between 0-200 m above sea level (Parsons 1999), though may extend into hilly areas when the food plant is present; the specimen from Southern Highlands was captured at 770-800 m Asl. (Collins and Morris 1985, Parsons 1999, Matsuka 2001). From available point data, the estimated area of occupancy is at least 88 km?, and likely larger.
(IUCN 2020)

Occurrence and observation maps

Map of Life
GBIF
i-Naturalist

References

• Collins, N.M. and Morris, M.G. 1985. Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World. The IUCN Red Data Book. IUCN, Gland and Cambridge.
• D'Abrera, B. 1971. Butterflies of the Australian Region. Lansdowne Press, Melbourne.
• D'Abrera, B. 1975. Birdwing Butterflies of the World. Lansdowne Press, Melbourne.
• Haugum, J. and Low, A.M. 1979. A Monograph of the Birdwing Butterflies. Scandinavian Science Press, Klampenborg.
• IUCN. 2020. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2020-3. Available at: www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 10 December 2020).
• Matsuka, H. 2001. Natural History of Birdwing Butterflies. Matsuka Shuppan, Tokyo.
• Parsons, M. 1999. The butterflies of Papua New Guinea: their systematics and biology. Academic Press., London.
• Parsons, M.J. 1996. New species of Aristolochia and Pararistolochia (Aristolochiaceae) from Australia and New Guinea. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 120(3): 199-238.
• Pasternak, J. 1981. On the rediscovery of Ornithoptera meridionalis tarunggarensis Joicey & Talbot in a new locality in Kamrau Bay, south-west Irian Jaya, Indonesia. Transactions ofthe Himeji Natural History Association 1981: 2-14.
• Schaeffler, O. 2001. Papilionidae VI: Ornithoptera. In: Bauer, E. and Frankenbach, T. (eds), Butterflies of the World, Goecke & Evers, Keltern.
• Szent-Ivany, J.J.H. 1970. Notes on the distribution and host plant of Ornithoptera meridionalis. P. & N. G. Sci. Soc. Proc 22: 35-37.