Papilionidae
Bhutan Glory
Bhutanitis lidderdalei
Range: Bhutan, northeastern India, northern Myanmar, Thailand, and southern China
The Bhutan Glory has a slow, unpredictable, fluttery flight and may be unpalatable to predators since the larvae feed on poisonous plants in the genus Aristolochia. These butterflies are very popular with collectors.
Five-striped Kite Swallowtail
Protesilaus protesilaus
Range: Mexico, south to Paraguay
All of the Kite Swallowtails have a strong, fast flight. They prefer to fly high at treetop level, but males come to the ground to puddle.
Tailed Jay
Graphium agamemnon
Range: India and Bangladesh, through Southeast Asia to New Guinea and northern Australia
The Tailed Jay can complete its life cycle in a little over one month, and usually there are seven to eight broods per year. The female has longer tails than the male.
Purple Spotted Swallowtail
Graphium weiskei
Range: Papua New Guinea
Although the Purple Spotted Swallowtail has a restricted range, it is quite common. It prefers mountainous regions, usually flying at altitudes of over 4,000 feet (1,219 meters).
Green Dragontail
Lamproptera meges
Range: India and Southeast Asia
The Green Dragontail has transparent areas on the forewings, which are devoid of scales. In flight, the wings flutter rapidly and the butterfly hovers over flowers to feed like a hummingbird.
Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing
Ornithoptera alexandrae
Range: Southeastern Papua New Guinea
The Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing is the largest butterfly in the world, with a wingspan of up to 11 inches (28 cm). The species is sexually dimorphic; the brightly-colored, iridescent males (shown here) are smaller than the dull-colored females. It is listed by the IUCN as an endangered species, which is mainly due to destruction of its preferred habitat—old-growth rainforest. It is highly prized by collectors, and one specimen can fetch thousands of dollars.
African Giant Swallowtail
Papilio antimachus
Range: Central and West Africa, from Uganda to Sierra Leone and south to Angola
This swallowtail is the largest butterfly on the African continent. The bright orange coloration serves as a warning to predators that this species is highly toxic, containing large quantities of cardenolide poisons acquired as a caterpillar from its hostplant.
Mocker Swallowtail
Papilio dardanus
Range: Wet forests of Africa and Madagascar
The female Mocker Swallowtail has no hindwing tails. It shows many different color forms, mimicking several other butterfly species throughout its range. This butterfly is also known as the Flying Handkerchief.
Tiger Swallowtail
Heraclides glaucus
Range: North America, from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico
The early instar larvae resemble bird droppings for protection. This is one of the few swallowtails that accepts many different hostplants. The caterpillars feed on tulip trees, wild cherries, and cottonwoods. The female occurs in two color forms: a yellow form similar to the male, and a dark form in the southern part of the species’ range that is most likely a mimic of the toxic Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor).
Homerus Swallowtail
Heraclides homerus
Range: Jamaica
With a wingspan of 6 inches (15 centimeters), the Homerus Swallowtail is the largest butterfly in the western hemisphere. It has been listed as an endangered species since 1987.
Great Mormon
Papilio memnon
Range: Northeastern India, through Myanmar, across southern China and Southeast Asia to Indonesia and Japan
Female Great Mormon butterflies are polymorphic and mimic several different unpalatable species, such as the Common Rose (Pachliopta aristolochiae), an unrelated Swallowtail.
Emerald Swallowtail
Papilio palinurus
Range: Southeast Asia
This species is also known as the Banded Peacock. The iridescent green on the upper surface of the wings is due to the structural surface of the scales mixing reflected blue and yellow light.
Green-celled Cattleheart
Parides childrenae
Range: Southern Mexico to Ecuador
Larvae of the Green-celled Cattleheart acquire toxins by feeding on Aristolochia vines. The male and female are sexually dimorphic—the male (shown here) has large green patches on the forewing, but these are absent in the female.
Apollo
Parnassius apollo
Range: Mountainous areas of Europe and Central Asia
The preferred habitat of the Apollo is high altitude rocky meadows, up to 6,500 feet (2,000 meters) above sea level. It overwinters as an egg. The larvae feed on stonecrop plants in the genus Sedum. This species has hundreds of named subspecies within its range, some confined to a single valley.
Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing
Trogonoptera brookiana
Range: Sumatra, Borneo, and the Malaysian peninsula
This species was first described by Alfred Russel Wallace in 1855, and named after Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak. The larvae feed on Aristolochia vines. Adults can be seen feeding on nectar and fruit juices, and males congregate together to puddle on stream banks.
Spanish Festoon
Zerynthia rumina
Range: Spain, Portugal, southeastern France, and North Africa
The Spanish Festoon, one of the smallest members of the Swallowtail family, has no tails. It overwinters in the pupal stage.
