What was originally described as Ornithoptera allotei is a birdwing

Birdwing

Birdwings are papilionid butterflies native to the Indian Subcontinent, mainland and archipelagic Southeast Asia and Australasia, and are usually regarded as belonging to three genera: Ornithoptera, Trogonoptera and Troides. Some authorities include additional genera...

 butterfly

Butterfly

A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...

 that is a natural hybrid between Ornithoptera victoriae

Ornithoptera victoriae

Queen Victoria's Birdwing is a birdwing butterfly found in the Solomon Islands and Bougainville Island ....

and Ornithoptera priamus urvillianus

Ornithoptera priamus

Ornithoptera priamus, commonly known as the common green birdwing, Cape York Birdwing, Priam's Birdwing or Northern Birdwing, is a widespread species of birdwing butterfly found in the central and south Moluccas, New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Islands, and northeast...

. The hybrid is known from Bougainville Island

Bougainville Island

Bougainville Island is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville of Papua New Guinea. This region is also known as Bougainville Province or the North Solomons. The population of the province is 175,160 , which includes the adjacent island of Buka and assorted outlying islands...

 and Malaita Island.

The only other known natural birdwing hybrid is Ornithoptera rothschildi x Ornithoptera priamus poseidon

Ornithoptera akakeae

What was originally described as Ornithoptera akakeae is a birdwing butterfly that is a hybrid between Ornithoptera rothschildi and Ornithoptera priamus poseidon. The hybrid is known from a single female specimen....

.

History

O. allotei was described by Rothschild

Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild

Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild FRS , a scion of the Rothschild family, was a British banker, politician, and zoologist.-Biography:...

 in 1914 as a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

, despite the assertion by its discoverer, Abbé Allotte, a priest at the Buin

Buin, Papua New Guinea

Buin is a settlement at the southern end of the island of Bougainville, a part of the North Solomons Province, located in the northern Solomon Islands in the South Pacific Ocean.-History:...

 Mission, Bougainville Island, that it was a natural hybrid.

It was originally placed in the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Troides. The female was described by H.M Peebles and W. Schmassmann in 1917.

Schmid (1970), McAlpine (1970) and Haugum & Low (1978) all held the hybrid theory but the final proof of O. allotei being a natural hybrid was made by Ramón Straatman (Jan Haugum in 'Papilio International' (1990)).