Papilio (Chilasa) paradoxa, the great blue mime, is a swallowtail butterfly found in India and parts of South-East Asia. The butterfly belongs to the mime subgenus, Chilasa, of the genus Papilio (black-bodied swallowtails). It is an excellent mimic of different species of Euploea (sub-family Danainae).
From Charles Thomas Bingham (1905) The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma, Butterflies Vol. 1:
The butterfly is found in northern India (including Assam and Arunachal Pradesh), Bangladesh, and Myanmar. It is also found in southern China, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Kampuchea, peninsular and eastern Malaysia, Philippines (Palawan), Brunei and Indonesia (Sumatra, Banka, Nias, and Kalimantan).
Never common but not known to be threatened. Considered rare in India by William Harry Evans and Mark Alexander Wynter-Blyth. Only one subspecies of the butterfly occurs in Indian territory, P. (C.) p. telearchus (Hewitson), which is protected by law in India.
This is a forest species and is generally found in low elevations.
The typical form of the great blue mime mimics the striped blue crow (Euploea mulciber) in both sexes. There also occurs in India a form danisepa which mimics the magpie crow (Euploea radamanthus). Though the great mimes are easily distinguished when caught, in flight they very closely resemble the mimicked butterflies.
The flight of the mime mimics that of the species it resembles. It is fond of settling on damp patches.
. Evans . W.H. . William Harry Evans . The Identification of Indian Butterflies . 2nd . Mumbai, India . . 1932 .
. Bingham . C.T. . Charles Thomas Bingham . . 1 . 1st . . London . 1905 .