Great Mormon Butterfly Males Papilio memnon

Male forms of the Great Mormon Butterfly vary far less than those of the females. Most are black with some degree of blue scales/streaking, especially on the hind wings. The body is usually entirely black and the hind wings tailless. The key variation in any form seems an individual thing - whether to show the bright red "shoulder" scales through to the topside.

The red "shoulders" are usually visible on the underside, together with the partial red chain marks shown on the main Great Mormon page.

The most common form has blue-green scales on its tailless hind wings as well as on the trailing edge of its forewings.

Subspecies P. memnon lowii would seem to have whiter streaking and a tail on each hind wing, like the full species P. lowii, Great Yellow Mormon, but without the sandy wash on the forewings? But are these above Great Yellows that have lost their sandy scales with age? Or are they Great Mormon subspecies lowii? Or are they one and the same anyway?