Papilio polyxenes (Black Swallowtail, Schwarzer Schwalbenschwanz, Machaon Noir)

Papilio polyxenes , also called Black Swallowtail or Schwarzer Schwalbenschwanz is a butterfly from Nearctic ecozone (North America). The first description was in 1775 by Fabricius. With a wingspan of 7.0 – 9.0 cm the Black Swallowtail is a small member of the family PAPILIONIDAE. The butterfly is black with yellow and red spots.

Photos for easy identification

: Photo © by Thomas Neubauer

: Photo © by Thomas Neubauer

: Photo © by Thomas Neubauer

: Photo © by Thomas Neubauer

These are nice photos of Papilio polyxenes asterius (Black Swallowtail, Schwarzer Schwalbenschwanz, Machaon Noir). Papilio polyxenes asteriusis a member of the family PAPILIONIDAE from Nearctic (North America).

Description

The forewings are black. At the margin there are two chains of yellow spots.
The underside is a copy of upside, but the spots of the first chain are orange.

The hind wings are black. There is a chain of densely packed yellow spots in the middle of wing. At the margin there is a chain of yellow spots. Between this two chains there is one chain of blue spots. In back there is a red and yellow eye with a black core.
The underside is a copy of upside, but there are some differences. The most of yellow spots from upside are orange or red. The blue spots are broader than upside.

The body is black with little white spots.

Sex differences: The female is darker than male. The female has a broad blue band on hind winds.

Distribution

The Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) is a butterfly of the Nearctic ecozone (North America) and the Neotropic ecozone (South America). The distribution include the whole Nearctic without Alaska and North-west-territory and extend to Peru.

: This world map shows the ecozones in which this butterfly is distributed.

Larval food

Umbelliferae:

Anethum graveolens
Angelica ampla
Angelica atropurpurea
Angelica venenosa
Apium graveolens
Berula erecta
Carum carvi
Cicuta bulbifera
Cicuta douglasii
Cicuta maculata
Conium maculatum
Cryptotaenia canadensis
Cymopterus panamintensis
Daucus carota
Daucus dioica
Daucus pusillus
Eryngium cuneifolium
Foeniculum vulgare
Harbouria trachypleura
Heracleum maximum
Levisticum officinale
Ligusticum scoticum
Musineon tenuifolium
Osmorhiza claytonii
Pastinaca sativa
...

General information

The first description of this butterfly was in 1775 by Fabricius. There are some subspecies.

Papilio polyxenes americus [Kollar, 1849]
Papilio polyxenes asterius [Stoll, 1782]
Papilio polyxenes coloro [Wright, 1905] hat größere gelbe Bereiche
Papilio polyxenes gerardi [Bollino & Vitale, 2002]
Papilio polyxenes kahli [Chermock, 1937]
Papilio polyxenes sadalus [Lucas, 1852]
Papilio polyxenes stabilis [Rothschild & Jordan, 1906]

The caterpillar is green with black strips and yellow spots. The flight period of Black Swallowtail is from April to October.

: Photo © by Thomas Neubauer

: Photo © by Thomas Neubauer

: Photo © by Thomas Neubauer

: Photo © by Thomas Neubauer

Here you can see a female of Papilio polyxenes asterius.

Protection provisions / Red List

CITES: (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora):

-no entry- (as at 23.06.2005)
EU regulation on trading with species of wild Fauna and Flora

-no entry- (as at 19.08.2005)
IUCN Red List of threatened species:

-no entry- (as at 2004) (see: www.redlist.org/)

Similar and closely-related species

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Scientific name

Papilio polyxenes Fabricius 1775

Synonym

Black swallowtail, Eastern Black Swallowtail, American Swallowtail
Amerikanischer Schwalbenschwanz, Schwarzer Schwalbenschwanz
Machaon noir
Macaón negro