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Butterfly

Lime swallowtail

Papilio demoleus

A lime swallowtail butterfly with cream and black wings resting among low green plants with small orange flowers

Image: Devendra Bhardwaj · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0 · Nemi Nagar Extension, Jaipur, Rajasthan · Resized

A lime swallowtail seen from the side, perched on a grass stem against green leaves

Image: Devendra Bhardwaj · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0 · Smriti Van, Jaipur, Rajasthan · Resized

Scientific name
Papilio demoleus
Family
Papilionidae, order Lepidoptera
Group
Butterfly

A chequered butterfly that loves lemon leaves.

  • Spot it Black wings with yellow spots, and no tails.
  • Home Gardens and farms.
  • Food web Caterpillars eat lime, lemon and bel leaves; adults sip nectar.
  • Why it matters Pollinates garden flowers, and its caterpillars on citrus feed birds and wasps.

Read more: Papilio demoleus on Wikipedia

Sources and credits

Records and field notes

  • JaipurDevendra Bhardwaj photographed a lime swallowtail at Smriti Van, Jaipur, in August 2007 and another at his home in Nemi Nagar Extension, Jaipur, in August 2020.[20]
  • JaipurHe adds that its caterpillars also feed on bel (wood apple) leaves.[20]

Sources

  1. Devendra Bhardwaj. iNaturalist observations and notes, with place and date (inaturalist.org/people/devendrabhardwaj) (field record). The observer's own dated records and notes, with places. Statements in his notes are his own and were not independently checked by KJVF.
  2. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF species data (family, order, Hindi names, IUCN category) (database). Open biodiversity data. Used for classification, Hindi common names and the IUCN category where one is given.
  3. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (opening lines of each species article, CC BY-SA 4.0). The link on each entry goes to the article (reference). Not peer reviewed. Only the opening description is used, and statements about origin or medicinal use are left out.
  4. Short introductions and key points written with AI help (Google Gemini and Claude) and checked against GBIF where possible (reference). AI-assisted text for general readers. Please check important details before relying on them.

The tag before each record shows the place it was checked for.

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