Tailed jay
The tailed jay is a black swallowtail butterfly covered in bright green spots, with a little tail on each back wing. It is a busy, restless flier. Even while it drinks from a flower it keeps fluttering its wings.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
It takes only about 33 to 36 days to grow from an egg into a butterfly.
Because it grows so fast, there can be seven or eight families in one year.
It has become common in cities because people plant its caterpillars' favourite tree in streets and gardens.
Its pale yellow eggs hatch after three or four days.
It usually flies high among the treetops and comes down to visit flowers.
Most asked questions about Tailed jay
?What does the tailed jay eat?
The butterfly drinks flower nectar. Its caterpillars eat leaves of the mast tree and custard apple.
?Is the tailed jay rare?
No. It is common and not threatened, and is often seen in gardens and cities.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Graphium agamemnon
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Papilionidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Papilionidae
- Lives on
- Asia, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Green-spotted triangle, Tailed green jay, Green triangle
Where the facts come from
- Graphium agamemnon (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 Peellden. CC BY-SA 4.0, 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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