Thoas swallowtail
The Thoas swallowtail is a very big butterfly with brown wings and bright yellow bands. Its back wings end in long tails with a yellow spot in the middle. Even its body is yellow. It is a bold flyer that often soars high in the air.
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Fun facts
Its wings can be up to 14 centimetres across, wider than a grown-up's hand.
It looks so much like the giant swallowtail that people often mix them up.
In the tropics it flies all year round.
It lives in open country, gardens and plantations.
Most asked questions about Thoas swallowtail
?How big is the Thoas swallowtail?
Its wings measure about 12 to 14 centimetres from tip to tip.
?What does the Thoas swallowtail caterpillar eat?
Mostly the leaves of citrus plants, like lemon and orange trees.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Heraclides thoas
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1771
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Papilionidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Papilionidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
- Also known as
- King swallowtail
Where the facts come from
- Papilio thoas (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 Tubifex. 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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