Two-tailed swallowtail
The two-tailed swallowtail is a huge yellow butterfly with black tiger stripes. Most butterflies of its kind have one tail on each back wing, but this one usually has two. It is the biggest swallowtail in western North America.
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Fun facts
Little orange eyespots near its tails trick hungry birds into attacking its back end instead of its head, so it can escape.
The caterpillar folds a leaf and ties it shut with silk, then eats from inside its little leaf house.
Boys like to gather at muddy puddles to sip water and minerals.
It is the state butterfly of Arizona.
It spends the winter as a pupa and comes out as a butterfly in May.
Most asked questions about Two-tailed swallowtail
?How big is the two-tailed swallowtail?
Its wings measure about 7.5 to 16.5 centimetres from tip to tip, bigger than a grown-up's hand.
?Why does it have two tails?
Each back wing usually has two pointy tails. Together with its eyespots, they may fool birds into grabbing the wrong end.
?Where can you see a two-tailed swallowtail?
In western North America, near streams, in moist valleys and canyons, and in some towns.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Papilio multicaudata
- Named by
- Kirby, 1884
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Papilionidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Papilionidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Papilio multicaudata (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 ALAN SCHMIERER. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same 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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