Swallowtail butterfly

family of insects

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 Australia (genus Ornithoptera).[1]

Swallowtail butterfly
Western Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio rutulus
Scientific classification
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Papilionidae

Latreille, 1802
Type species
Papilio machaon
Subfamilies and genera

There are 26 genera and about 605 species:

References

change
  1. Reed, Robert D. and Sperling, Felix A. H. 2006. Papilionidae. The Swallowtail Butterflies. Version 7 July 2006. [1] Archived 2016-08-17 at the Wayback Machine in The Tree of Life Web Project, [2]