Chequered Swallowtail or Common Lime Butterfly

Description:

Common names: Common Lime Butterfly, Lemon Butterfly, Lime Swallowtail, Small Citrus Butterfly, Chequered Swallowtail, Mariposa del Muerte, Dingy Swallowtail, Citrus Swallowtail. Papilio demoleus, the Mariposa del Muerte, is a common and widespread Swallowtail butterfly. It gets its common names from its host plants, which are usually citrus species such as the cultivated lime. Unlike most swallowtail butterflies, it does not have a prominent tail. The first description was in 1758 by Linnaeus. The wingspan is about 8 – 9 cm. This butterfly is a member of the family PAPILIONIDAE. Papilio demoleus is black. It has a large number of yellow spots. The butterfly has also been referred to as the Butterfly of Death, a name it shares with a morphologically similar species, Papilio demodocus, which flies in Africa. The butterfly is a pest and invasive species from the Old World which has spread to the Caribbean and Central America.

Habitat:

Papilio demoleus (Lime Butterfly) is a butterfly from the Australasia / Indomalaya (Australia) ecozone. You can observe this butterfly in the whole ecozone. This one was spotted in a tropical butterfly garden in S.E. France, on the French/Spanish border.

Notes:

The butterfly has also been referred to as the Butterfly of Death (Mariposa del Muerte), a name it shares with a morphologically similar species, Papilio demodocus, which flies in Africa. The butterfly is a pest and invasive species from the Old World which has spread to the Caribbean and Central America.