Common Mormon Swallowtail Papilio polytes

The males of this species are perfectly ordinary-looking — but the females are nature's great shape-shifters. Females occur in multiple distinct forms, each a near-perfect mimic of a different toxic swallowtail species, including the common rose and crimson rose. By resembling a poisonous butterfly, a harmless one earns protection without the metabolic cost of manufacturing its own toxins. This is Batesian mimicry at its most sophisticated, and producing multiple visually distinct female forms within a single species is extraordinarily rare.

The common name references the Mormon practice of polygamy — one male form, many female forms. It's one of Asia's most widespread and most studied swallowtails, and a textbook example that appears in virtually every introduction to evolutionary biology.