Basically black and white in colour scheme, it has a very large white-tipped tail, 25-40 mm long. The forewing has a triangular hyaline patch with black borders, and thin black stripes along the veins, forming six to eight spot/bands. It also has a pale band running obliquely across the pre-discal area. This band is continued onto the black hindwing which bears the long tail and prominent abdominal wing-fold. In this species, the pale bands are light green in colour while in its closely related species, Lamproptera curius, they are white. Also in Lamproptera curius, the white band has a hyaline outer edge.
Sexes alike, female is duller and has a ventral copulation groove before the tip of the abdomen. The males of this species do not have the sex mark (scent organ) found in Lamproptera curius.