Short-tailed swallowtail
The short-tailed swallowtail is a black butterfly with rows of yellow or orange spots. Like other swallowtails it has little tails on its back wings, but its tails are extra short. It loves windy places right by the sea.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
It is a very strong flier, so wind by the sea does not bother it.
The female lays her eggs one by one on leaves. The eggs are cream and later get a reddish-brown ring.
The caterpillar is pale green with black bands and yellow spots.
It spends the winter as a chrysalis, which can be green or blackish brown.
Males wait on hilltops to meet females.
Most asked questions about Short-tailed swallowtail
?Where does the short-tailed swallowtail live?
In North America, mostly near the sea where its food plants grow.
?What do short-tailed swallowtail caterpillars eat?
Plants of the parsley family, such as Scotch lovage, angelica and parsnip.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Papilio brevicauda
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Papilionidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Papilionidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Papilio brevicauda (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 D. Gordon E. Robertson. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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