With a wingspan of 194 mm, the female of the species is marginally larger than the southern birdwing (190 mm) that Brigadier William Harry Evans, a British military officer and lepidopterist, recorded in 1932.
But the male golden birdwing (Troides aeacus) is much smaller at 106 mm.
While the female golden birdwing was recorded from Didihat in Uttarakhand, the largest male was from the Wankhar Butterfly Museum in Shillong.
According to the authors, the only measurement used in the study of Lepidoptera is wingspan — a simple concept with various interpretations of the term.
The smallest butterly is the quaker (Neopithecops zalmora) with a wingspan of 18 mm and forewing length of a mere 8 mm.