Bhutan Glory Butterfly (Bhutanitis lidderdalii)

The Bhutan Glory lives in a thin band of misty montane forest along the eastern Himalayas, between 1,500 and 3,000 metres. It is rarely seen, partly because the habitat is difficult to reach and partly because the butterfly itself is scarce, and it is now protected across most of its range.

Its long-tailed hindwings and banding of orange, black and cream recall the Apollo butterflies it is distantly related to, but the flight is quite different: slow and floating rather than quick. At rest it folds its wings so the orange markings vanish, leaving something that reads as dead leaf against the canopy.

Its caterpillars feed only on Aristolochia vines, which are toxic, and both larvae and adults carry the poison forward - so the orange is a warning to anything that tries. Adults may live for several months, unusually long for a butterfly, and the species produces one or two broods a year.

A vector illustration of the Bhutan Glory in dorsal view, drawn for the Bugs series of insect art prints.

Bugs is a collection of natural history illustration prints drawn from the insect world - beetles, flies, bugs, butterflies, and moths selected for the strangeness, beauty, and variety of their forms.

Each illustration is adapted from Simon Tyler's book Bugs, published by Pavilion in 2017 and subsequently published in French and Chinese. The series draws on the tradition of scientific natural history illustration - precise, considered, and attentive to the details that make each species distinctive.

Insects account for the majority of all known animal species on Earth. This collection is a small survey of what that diversity looks like.

All prints are produced to order on 250gsm archival matte paper using pigment-based inks, chosen for colour accuracy and long-term stability.

Each print is rolled in acid-free tissue and shipped in a rigid cardboard tube, sealed for moisture protection, ready for framing on arrival.

Large · 70 × 50 cm · 28 × 20 in

XLarge · 100 × 70 cm · 40 × 28 in

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Rest of World: £14.95 · 7-14 working days

All prints are produced to order and dispatched within 1-3 working days. Orders placed before 5pm GMT ship the same day. You'll receive tracking information by email once dispatched.

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Returns accepted within 30 days. Email returns@axisophy.com with your order number and we'll provide return instructions.

Return postage is the customer's responsibility except where the print arrives damaged or there's been an error - in which case we'll arrange a replacement or refund immediately, no return needed.

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