Butterflies

Butterflies flying in the Botanic Gardens

Tirumala hamata, Blue Tiger Butterfly

It's hard to have missed the explosion of Blue Tiger Butterflies around the region over the month, and how  
amazing has it been to see?

Blue Tiger Butterflies are mostly a tropical butterfly and can be seen nearly all year round in North
Queensland. They are migratory and fly south during spring and summer reaching southern Queensland,
New South Wales and even Victoria.

When cooler weather arrives, Blue Tigers will head back north in April and May. They are known to
congregate in huge numbers over winter, clustering on stems and vines in sheltered gullies in central
and north Queensland. Read more about the Blue Tigers and what they eat here.

Papilio ulysses, Ulysses Butterfly

We have been very lucky over the last couple of months to see a few of our stunning Ulysses Butterflies, one of North Queensland’s most distinctive and unique butterfly species. We were very lucky this month to take a few photos of them visiting the ornamental Pentas flowers in the Heritage Gardens.

This species is considered to be one of the most elusive butterflies and can be very challenging to photograph as their bright blue colours are easy to spot by their predators, so they fly very quickly and erratically to protect themselves.

Their larval food plants is the locally occurring Melicope elleryana, commonly known as Pink Evodia and Melicope bonwickii, commonly known as Yellow Evodia. You can find both these plants growing in the Mackay Regional Botanic Gardens.

Disclaimer: Any advice included herein was created for advisory purposes only. It does not constitute legal opinion. Neither the Mackay Regional Botanic Gardens nor Mackay Regional Council will accept liability  for any information, errors, omissions or consequences in any way whatsoever to any person, business or corporation that relies on the information provided, or for the recommendations expressed and conclusions reached. The (information) has been prepared in good faith on the information available at the date of provision.