Bug card No. 0463 of 1,500

Emerald swallowtail

Papilio palinurus

Name means: “Palinurus was the name of the ship's pilot in an old Roman story, the Aeneid”

Eats: Nectar and pollen ButterfliesRainforests and jungles6 legs

The emerald swallowtail is a dark butterfly with wide, shining emerald green bands across its wings. Its back wings end in little tails. It lives in the rainforests of Southeast Asia and flies fast and shyly.

Lives in

Southeast Asia, from Myanmar and Malaysia to Sumatra, Borneo and the Philippines, in rainforests

Wingspan

8 to 10 cm (3.1 to 3.9 in)

Top speed

about 19 km/h (12 mph)

Flying, estimate

Can it hurt you?

Harmless

Harmless. It is a shy butterfly that flies away quickly.

What does it eat?

The butterfly drinks nectar from flowers like Ixora and Lantana. The caterpillars eat the leaves of Euodia trees, which are related to citrus.

Photo of Emerald swallowtail — Picture by Papilio121 at English Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

wings as wide as your handcould fly across a whole football pitch in 20 seconds

How big is Emerald swallowtail compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)

Emerald swallowtail about 19 km/h (12 mph)

A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)

A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

Its green colour is not paint. Tiny shapes on its wing scales bounce back blue and yellow light, and our eyes mix them into green.

It sometimes flies low over water like a swallow, dips its body in and zooms off.

It likes to visit damp spots on forest paths.

Butterfly houses all over the world keep it, so you might see one without going to Asia.

you asked

Most asked questions about Emerald swallowtail

?Where does the emerald swallowtail live?

In the rainforests of Southeast Asia, from Myanmar to Borneo and the Philippines.

?Why is the emerald swallowtail so shiny green?

Its wing scales have tiny patterns that mix blue and yellow light into a shining green.

?How big is the emerald swallowtail?

Its wings are about 8 to 10 centimetres from tip to tip.

For bug experts

Scientific name: Papilio palinurus
Named by: Fabricius, 1787
Group: Butterflies
Family: Papilionidae
Classification: Insecta > Lepidoptera > Papilionidae
Lives on: Asia
Also known as: Emerald peacock, Green-banded peacock

Where the facts come from

Papilio palinurus (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 Papilio121 at English Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same 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.