The wing upperside of Blue Emperors is black with large sections of iridescent electric blue. This spectacular coloration is created not by pigments but by microscopically structured surfaces of wing scales that interfere with visible light. This phenomenon is called structural coloration.
Males are strongly attracted to the color blue, and this helps them to find females. During the time of mating, they can easily be tricked by blue objects such as pieces of bright blue paper or plastic. Unfortunately, poachers exploit such behavior of theirs, which has resulted in overhunting as there are always collectors willing to pay large sums of money for beautiful specimens of the Blue Emperor Butterfly.
To prevent the extinction of the butterfly species described, local authorities have applied extremely strict penalties for illegally caught specimens. However, it seems that these measures have failed; searching through the Internet, we have found that there are considerably more websites selling framed Blue Emperors than those dealing with their bio-ecology.
This can only lead to one conclusion: Blue Emperors are seriously overhunted, being pushed to the edge of extinction.