Magnificent swallowtail
Papilio garamas
Name means: “named after Garamas, a person in Greek myths”
The magnificent swallowtail is a big, beautiful butterfly from Mexico and Central America. Its black wings have cream bands. Some females are almost all black.
Lives in
Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama
Wingspan
8 to 11 cm (3.1 to 4.3 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Like other swallowtails, adults drink nectar from flowers.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
✋wings as wide as your hand⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 19 seconds
How big is Magnificent 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)
Magnificent swallowtail about 20 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
1
Females come in two looks: some look like the males, others are dark without the cream bands.
2
Its wings can measure up to 11 centimetres from tip to tip.
3
It is not rare and is not in danger.
you asked
Most asked questions about Magnificent swallowtail
?How big is the magnificent swallowtail?
Its wings measure 8 to 11 centimetres from tip to tip.
?Where does the magnificent swallowtail live?
In Mexico and Central America, down to Panama.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Papilio garamas
- Named by
- Geyer, 1829
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Papilionidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Papilionidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Mexico phoenix
Where the facts come from
- Papilio garamas (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 Amado Demesa from DF, México. CC BY-SA 2.0, 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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