The Kamehameha butterfly was named the state insect of Hawaii in 2009, due to the work of a group of fifth-graders from Pearl Ridge Elementary.

[2] These 5th graders (Robyn-Ashley Amano, Ryan Asuka, Kristi Kimura, Jennifer Loui, Toshiro Yanai and Jenna Yanke) proposed the butterfly as the state insect to various legislators as a project for Gifted and Talented.

[3] The caterpillars feed on the leaves of plants in the family Urticaceae,[4] especially those of māmaki (Pipturus albidus)[5] but also ōpuhe (Urera spp.

When dappled light or gaps in the canopy allow, partial basking may also occur during cryptic camouflage behavior, where adults rest on the bark of trees facing downwards.

However, it is now absent from much of its former range due to decline of native forest habitat, necessary indigenous host plants, and widespread predation from non-native species.

Conservation efforts such as the Hawai’i Invertebrate Program (HIP), and local projects operated by the Division of Forestry and Wildlife, continue to rear and attempt to maintain wild populations of this butterfly on O'ahu and the Big Island.