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Sticker of Astyalus swallowtail
Bug card No. 0197 of 4,939

Astyalus swallowtail

Heraclides astyalus
Eats: Nectar and pollenButterfliesRainforests and jungles6 legs

The Astyalus swallowtail is a big butterfly from Central and South America, with wings about 12 centimetres across. The male is black with a wide yellow band across his wings. The female is darker and has no yellow band.

Lives in
From Mexico all the way to Argentina, and sometimes southern Texas
Wingspan
12 to 12 cm (4.6 to 4.7 in)
Top speed
about 21 km/h (13 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It is a butterfly that cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Grown-ups drink nectar from flowers like lantana. The caterpillars eat the leaves of citrus trees.
For real!Photo of Astyalus swallowtail
Picture by Hectonichus. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Astyalus swallowtail wings about 12 cm tip to tip (4.7 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
wings as wide as your handcould fly across a whole football pitch in 18 seconds

How big is Astyalus swallowtail compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its back wings have tails, and near each tail there is an orange-red eyespot with a shiny blue moon shape above it.

2

Its caterpillars eat the leaves of citrus trees, like orange and lemon trees.

3

Grown-ups fly from April to October, and there are probably two generations a year.

4

Every now and then one strays north into Texas or even Arizona.

5

The male's body is yellow underneath and black on top, while the female's body is all black.

you asked

Most asked questions about Astyalus swallowtail

?How big is the Astyalus swallowtail?

It is big. Its wings are about 12 centimetres from tip to tip.

?How can you tell a male from a female?

The male has a wide yellow band across his black wings. The female is darker and has no yellow band.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Heraclides astyalus
Group
Butterflies
Family
Papilionidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Papilionidae
Lives on
North America, South America
Also known as
Broad-banded swallowtail

Where the facts come from

  1. Papilio astyalus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Hectonichus. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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More from the same group: Butterflies

Also at home here: Rainforests and jungles

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