Swallowtail Butterfly

Encyclopedia : S : SW : SWA : Swallowtail Butterfly

This article is about the insect. For the 1996 film by Shunji Iwai, please see Swallowtail Butterfly (film).

The swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies, which form the family Papilionidae. There are at least 550 species, and though the majority are tropical, members of the family are found on all continents except Antarctica. The family includes the largest butterflies in the world, the birdwing butterflies of Australasia (genus Ornithoptera).

Swallowtails differ from all other butterflies in a number of anatomical traits. Most notably, their caterpillars possess a unique organ behind their heads, called the osmeterium. Normally hidden, this forked structure can be everted when the caterpillar is threatened, and used to emit a foul-smelling secretion containing terpenes.

A Swallowtail caterpillar

The genera of extant swallowtails are usually classified into three subfamilies, Baroniinae, Parnassiinae and Papilioninae, the latter two being further divided into tribes. An additional subfamily Praepapilioninae, has a single extinct member, known only from a single fossil.

The Oregon Swallowtail Butterfly is the state insect of Oregon; the eastern tiger swallowtail is the state insect of Virginia.

Second or third instar Papilio glaucus caterpillar showing osmeterium

Species include

• Anise swallowtail, Papilio zelicaon
• Black swallowtail, Papilio polyxenes
• Clouded apollo, Parnassius mnemosyne
• Eastern tiger swallowtail, Papilio glaucus
• Pipevine swallowtail, Battus philenor
• Scarce swallowtail, Iphiclides podalirius
• Spicebush swallowtail, Papilio troilus
• Western Tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus
• Old World Swallowtail, Papilio machaon
• Citrus swallowtail, Papilio demodocus
• Apollo butterfly, Parnasius apollo

See also

External links

• [Tree of Life Web page]
• [revised GloBIS/GART species checklist]
• [Snow butterflies-Parnassius]
• [Exceptional swallowtail photos]
• [Afrotropical Kite Swallowtails]
• [BBC News: "LEDs work like butterflies' wings"]

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.