Insects Photo Click 24: Red Helen.

Papilio helenus

The Red Helen is a large Swallowtail Butterfly found in damp forests of southern India, Sri Lanka and parts of southeast Asia.

It is commonly met with flying along paths in damp forests, such as the ones depicted in this post, which I photographed in Sri Lanka. They flap their wings with deep and irregular wing beats. They congregate in numbers to drink from wet patches of leaf litter and rock pools, especially adjacent to streams.

Like in other Papilio species, the caterpillars can evert an osmeterium, a two pronged fleshy horn, from behind the head, that emits a foul smell. This is done to avert would be predators and parasites.