Kaiser-i-Hind
The Kaiser-i-Hind is a rare swallowtail butterfly that shimmers bright green. The male has a big chrome yellow patch on each back wing. It lives high up in mountain forests and is very hard to catch.

How fast is it?
Fun facts
Its green shimmer comes from tiny 3D structures in its wing scales that bounce light around. Scientists study them.
It flies very strongly and fast, and rests high up in trees.
It usually flies only for a few hours in the morning.
The females are much bigger than the males, and much rarer to see.
It lives in forests between 1800 and 3000 metres up in the mountains.
Most asked questions about Kaiser-i-Hind
?What does Kaiser-i-Hind mean?
It means emperor of India.
?Why is the Kaiser-i-Hind so special?
It is rare and very beautiful, with shimmering green wings.
?Where does the Kaiser-i-Hind live?
In mountain forests of the Himalayas and nearby areas, from Nepal to Vietnam.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Teinopalpus imperialis
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Papilionidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Papilionidae
- Lives on
- Asia
- Also known as
- Kaisar-i-Hind
Where the facts come from
- Teinopalpus imperialis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Vkchandrasekharanlic. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.