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Common Yellow Swallowtail

Papilio machaon

Photo by Janice Parr
Published on Project Noah
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Field Notes

Description:

I have seen a few Swallowtail Butterflies in our garden but never noticed one of these yellow ones before. The photos are a bit blurry as it was very skitty and never stopped beating its wings fast, even when sitting on the flowers collecting nectar.

Reference Links:

Papilio machaon

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (4)
Janice Parr
Thank you Daniele for identifying the flower it is sitting on. I have been trying for sometime but did not know where to start.
DanielePralong
You're welcome Janice. These are actually very nice shots to me! I love this butterfly. The plant appears to be a lantana.
Janice Parr
Hi Daniele, thank you for pointing this out. I have amended the sighting to the Old Swallowtail as this appears to be the one.
DanielePralong
Hi Janice, the Western Tiger Swallowtail is a swallowtail found only in the western part of North America. Your swallowtail is likely to be either the Southern Swallowtail (Papilio alexanor) or the Old World Swallowtail (Papilio machaon). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papilio Here's a further key on how to try to separate them: http://www.eurobutterflies.com/species_pages/ID-Papilio.htm

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PublishedSeptember 18, 2011

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