A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Papilio demoleus
Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies in the family Papilionidae, which includes over 550 species. Lime Swallowtail is tailless and has a wingspan 80–100 mm. The upper hindwing has a red tornal spot with blue edging around it.
Though the majority are tropical, members of the family occur on every continent except Antarctica. Lime Swallowtail is an aggressive and very common butterfly. It is perhaps the most widely distributed swallowtail in the world.
Every year swallowtails come to our kumquat tree to lay eggs. Their color was lighter and less colorful when they first started coming many years ago. This is the first time we had one with such beautiful wing pattern.