Kaiser-i-Hind

The Kaisar-i-Hind has a predominantly green swallowtail. The male has a bright chrome-yellow patch on each hind wing. The following descriptions are from Charles Thomas Bingham (1907) The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma, Butterflies Volume 2.

Male. Upperside black, densely irrorated with green scales. Forewing: an outwardly oblique, slightly concave subbasal band and a narrow terminal edging jet-black due to the ground colour there being devoid of the green scaling; beyond the subbasal band the irroration of scales a much brighter green, especially along the outer edge of the subbasal band itself; but along obscure, broad and convergent discal and postdiscal transverse bands and along a subterminal much narrower band, the green scaling thins out and the black ground colour of the wing shows through; in some specimens, owing to the transparency of the wings, the rich ochraceous-brown colour of the underside gives the black on these bands a reddish tint. …

The butterfly is found in small pockets of Nepal, Bhutan and along the Eastern Himalayas in India (West Bengal, Meghalaya, Assam, Sikkim and Manipur). It is also found in northern Myanmar, northern Vietnam and in the Sichuan province of China. Mostly seen above 6,000 feet (1,800 m).

Flies in Sikkim in April and May and later in Manipur from May to July. Probably have two broods. The larvae feed on Magnolia campbellii (Magnoliaceae). Eggs: Smooth, spherical, pale purplish red. Laid on underside of leaves. Larva: Spindle shaped, green larva with broad heads and tapering tails. The larva has minute spines on the head and hair-like long spines on the segments. Pupa: Resembles that of Graphium species. It has a smooth head and prominent dorsal horn. It has a green mesothorax and broad yellow dorsal zones on the abdomen.