Spot swordtail
The spot swordtail is a bluish-white swallowtail butterfly with bold black stripes and a long, thin black tail on each back wing. It lives in the forests of South and Southeast Asia. Sometimes lots of them gather together around a flowering tree, which is a grand sight.
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Fun facts
It is shy and flies low and fast, dodging this way and that when something scares it.
In hot summers, big groups of them sit on damp roads and wet patches to drink.
The caterpillar is slow and mostly eats in the evening and at night.
Its pupa does not hang on the food plant. It hides in cracks, under stones or among roots.
In Sri Lanka it is known to travel long distances.
Most asked questions about Spot swordtail
?Why is it called the spot swordtail?
Because of the row of white spots along the edge of its wings, and its long, sword-like tails.
?Where does the spot swordtail live?
In South and Southeast Asia, from India and Sri Lanka to Thailand and Vietnam.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Graphium nomius
- Named by
- Esper, 1793
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Papilionidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Papilionidae
- Lives on
- Asia
Where the facts come from
- Graphium nomius (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 J.M.Garg. CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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