Papilio torquatus M one of the subspecies since it's not the "typical" one.Holy. Shit. My theories were right. I dropped a line on my friend's FB and he confirmed my suspicions and canceled any doubts.
To quote Ben:
"Brittany, this certainly is a female P. torquatus. Not only that, but many cases of sexual dimorphism in the Papilio family are a mimicry-related shifts in Papilio females looking to protect themselves by appearing as toxic males or females of other Papilio species. You might want to look into "Mimetic butterflies support Wallace’s model of sexual dimorphism" by Krushnamegh Kunte, Proceedings of the Royal Society B (2008) 275, 1617–1624."
Smh......incredible. I will be looking into that most definitely. I also managed to find out something about them via a Russian butterfly site.
Habitat of the Papilio torquatus stretches from Mexico to Bolivia. Females lay eggs on citrus fruits, which grow to a height of 800 m above sea level.
The males fly swiftly on forest edges and clearings. In the morning they feed on nectar, and in the afternoon rush to the sandbanks of the rivers, where they drink water with dissolved inorganic substances. Females do not leave the shady forests.
Had to edit this a bit obviously. But damn.
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