Papilio swallowtails are a group of large butterflies that includes Black Swallowtails, tiger swallowtails, Spicebush Swallowtails, and other familiar U.S. species. Bold wing patterns and strong flight make them conspicuous, but no single tail shape or color identifies every Papilio species.
Widespread from the eastern United States to the Rockies; its caterpillars often appear on parsley-family plants.
A dark swallowtail found in eastern U.S. woodlands and gardens.
A large yellow-and-black species of western parks, streamsides, and wooded areas.
A very large western species with two slender tails on each hindwing.
A western yellow-and-black species whose caterpillars use parsley-family plants.
A yellow-and-black butterfly common in eastern woods, parks, and suburbs; some females are mostly dark.
For a suspected Pipevine Swallowtail, look under the hindwing: it has one row of seven large orange spots in a blue field. Spicebush Swallowtails have two orange rows and pale green edge spots. Orange spots alone are not enough to tell them apart.
Why they get mixed upSeveral dark Papilio species resemble the chemically protected Pipevine Swallowtail.
Recorded year-round, every year · most records in Jul–Aug
246,609 observations in the US · 10 years · for reference