Apple-green swallowtail
Papilio phorcas
The apple-green swallowtail is a black butterfly with bands of fresh apple green. Its back wings end in little tails, like the tail of a swallow. It flutters through the forests of Africa.
Lives in
Africa south of the Sahara, from Guinea and Ghana to Kenya and Zambia
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Like all butterflies, it cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Grown-ups sip nectar from flowers. The caterpillars eat the leaves of plants from the citrus family, even citrus trees.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Apple-green swallowtail about 15 km/h (9.3 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
There are eight different subspecies living in different parts of Africa.
2
One subspecies lives only on Bioko, a small island off the coast of Africa.
3
Some kinds of it live high up in the mountain forests of Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania.
4
Its caterpillars can eat orange and lemon tree leaves.
you asked
Most asked questions about Apple-green swallowtail
?Where does the apple-green swallowtail live?
In Africa, from the west coast to Kenya and Tanzania, mostly in forests.
?Why is it called a swallowtail?
Because its back wings have little tails, like the forked tail of a swallow.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Papilio phorcas
- Named by
- Cramer, 1775
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Papilionidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Papilionidae
- Lives on
- Africa
- Also known as
- Green-banded swallowtail
Where the facts come from
- Papilio phorcas (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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