About Graphium doson (Felder & Felder, 1864)
Graphium doson, commonly known as the common jay, is a tropical swallowtail (papilionid) butterfly. Its body and wings are primarily black, with pale blue semi-transparent central wing bands made up of large spots, alongside a marginal row of smaller spots. The underside of the wings is brown, with markings that match the pattern of the upper wing surface but are whitish in color. Males and females of this species look identical. Graphium doson was first described by father and son entomologists Cajetan Felder and Rudolf Felder. This butterfly is widespread and common across most of Southeast Asia. Its range includes lower elevations in Sri Lanka and southern India, the Eastern Ghats, Satpuras, Bengal, Assam, Bangladesh, and the Himalayan foothills. It is scarce only in southern Honshū, Japan. The common jay is common in thick, riparian, moist deciduous, semi-evergreen, and evergreen forests. The caterpillars of Graphium doson feed on plants from three families: Annonaceae, Lauraceae, and Magnoliaceae. Recorded host plants include Annona lawii, Annona muricata, Cinnamomum macrocarpum, Cinnamomum malabatrum, Magnolia grandiflora, Magnolia liliifera, Magnolia oblonga, Hunteria zeylanica, Michelia champaca, Trachelospermum asiaticum, and Polyalthia longifolia.
