[6] The species was discovered in 1906 by Albert Stewart Meek, a collector employed by Walter Rothschild to collect natural history specimens from New Guinea.

[9] The eggs are large, light yellow and flattened at the base, fixated to the surface on which they are laid by a bright-orange substance.

Larvae of this species feed on the shell from which they hatched and then start to extract nutrients from pipe vines of the genus Pararistolochia (family Aristolochiaceae), including P. dielsiana and P. schlecteri.

They feed initially on fresh foliage of the host plants and their own eggs, ultimately causing ringbark to the vine before pupating.

Male pupae may be distinguished by a faint charcoal patch on the wing cases; this becomes a band of special scales in the adult butterfly called a sex brand.

The time taken for this species to develop from egg to pupa is approximately six weeks, with the pupal stage taking a month or more.

The adults may live for three months or more and have few predators, excluding large orb weaving spiders (Nephila species) and some small birds.

The flight is usually high in the rainforest canopy, but both sexes descend to within a few meters of the ground while feeding or laying eggs.

The Queen Alexandra's birdwing is considered endangered by the IUCN,[1] being restricted to approximately 100 km2 (40 sq mi) of coastal rainforest near Popondetta, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea.

However, the eruption of nearby Mount Lamington in the 1950s destroyed a very large area of this species' former habitat and is a key reason for its current rarity.

[10] In 2001, renowned Canadian researcher Gilles Deslisle was fined CA$50,000 for illegally importing six specimens of Queen Alexandra's birdwings.