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Two-tailed Swallowtail

Papilio multicaudata W. F. Kirby, 1884

Subfamily Papilioninae

Tribe Papilionini, Fluted Swallowtails

Taxonomy

There are about 600 species within the family Papilionidae.  The family is made up of 3 subfamilies, the Parnassiinae, which has about 50 species of Parnassians and Apollos that are found mostly in the montane regions of the nothern hemisphere, the Baroniinae, which has only 1 species, Baronia brevicomis from western Mexico, and the Papilioninae, which has about 550 species found worldwide.  The subfamily Papilioninae is further divided into 4 tribes, the Teinopalpini, which include 2 species from the Himalayas, the Troidini, which has about 130 worldwide species including the birdwings, the Leptocircini, which has about 140 species and includes kite Swallowtails, and the Papilionini, which has over 200 worldwide species and includes the fluted swallowtails in which Papilio multicaudata belongs to.

Papilio multicaudata, Moody Plateau, Little Missouri National Grassland, Billings County, North Dakota, 31 July 2004                                                             Ref #: I-282-4.6

Ash, Fraxinus pennsylvanica, a common larval food source, Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge, Ward County, North Dakota                                                  Ref #: N-2-16.6

Ash, Fraxinus pennsylvanica, a common larval food source, Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge, Ward County, North Dakota                                                Ref #: N-1-20.3

General Information:

Papilio multicaudata has one of the largest wingspans of the western U.S. butterflies.  It can be very common and it avidly collects nectar from many flowers.  Males can also be found in numbers imbibing minerals from the edges of lakes, rivers, and puddles on gravel roads.

Lifecycle:

Larval hostplants include chokecherry, ash and hoptree.  Larvae rest in curled leaves lined with silk.  They have eversible organs called osmeteria that are used to chemically deter predators.

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