Swallowtail Butterfly Pictures

Swallowtail Butterflies (Papilionidae) Battus Pipevine Swallowtail Eurytides Zebra Swallowtail Papilio Anise Swallowtail Eastern Black Swallowtail Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Giant Swallowtail Indra Swallowtail Pale Swallowtail Spicebush Swallowtail Western Tiger Swallowtail Parnassius Clodius Parnassian Types of Butterflies

The family Papilionidae, better known as Parnassian and Swallowtail butterflies, are large butterflies, characterized by extended tail-like appendages at the bottom of their wings.

Five Parnassian (Parnassiinae) species and approximately forty Swallowtail (Papilioninae) species can be found in the United States. Almost two-thirds of the swallowtail species belong to the Papilio genus.

Finding swallowtails can be an easy task in the southern most areas of the United States. Close to one-half of all swallowtail species can be found, sometimes only occasionally, in South Texas and South Florida.

The remaining swallowtail species also have a limited geographical range, and therefore the number of species present in any area usually counts less than ten.

The links in the box point to pictures and descriptions of a representative sample of species.

© 2009 Patricia A. Michaels