Common Mime

Description:

Medium-sized butterfly with black and white markings on the wings. Hind-wings have yellow markings on the under-side.

Habitat:

Flowering shrubs in an urban garden.

Notes:

A good example of Batesian mimicry, where an organism mimics another which is unpalatable to its likely predator, without having that unpalatable characteristic. It is a "sheep in wolves' clothing". In this case, the Common Mime mimics the Common Indian Crow or the Blue Tiger (depending on sub-species). See "Life Story of the Common Mime": http://butterflycircle.blogspot.com/2009... Spotted at the Chinese Garden, Jurong, Singapore