Swallowtail butterfly

Swallowtail butterfly
Some species of the Papilionidae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Suborder:	Ditrysia
Superfamily:	Papilionoidea
Family:	Papilionidae Latreille, [1802]
Type species
Papilio machaon (Old World swallowtail)
Subfamilies and genera
There are 31 genera and about 600 species: Subfamily Baroniinae Baronia Subfamily Parnassiinae Allancastria Archon Bhutanitis Doritites Hypermnestra Luehdorfia Parnassius Sericinus Subfamily Papilioninae Atrophaneura Battus Byasa Cressida Euryades Eurytides Graphium Iphiclides Lamproptera Losaria Meandrusa Mimoides Ornithoptera Pachliopta Papilio Parides Pharmacophagus Protesilaus Protographium Teinopalpus Trogonoptera Troides Subfamily †Praepapilioninae †Praepapilio

There are 31 genera and about 600 species:

Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies in the family Papilionidae, and include over 550 species. Though the majority are tropical, members of the family inhabit every continent except Antarctica. The family includes the largest butterflies in the world, the birdwing butterflies of the genus Ornithoptera.

Swallowtails have a number of distinctive features; for example, the papilionid caterpillar bears a repugnatorial organ called the osmeterium on its prothorax. The osmeterium normally remains hidden, but when threatened, the larva turns it outward through a transverse dorsal groove by inflating it with fluid.

The forked appearance of the swallowtails' hindwings, which can be seen when the butterfly is resting with its wings spread, gave rise to the common name swallowtail. As for its formal name, Linnaeus chose Papilio for the type genus, as papilio is Latin for "butterfly". For the specific epithets of the genus, Linnaeus applied the names of Greek heroes to the swallowtails. The type species: Papilio machaon honored Machaon, one of the sons of Asclepius, mentioned in the Iliad.

As of 2005, 552 extant species have been identified which are distributed across the tropical and temperate regions. Various species inhabit altitudes ranging from sea level to high mountains, as in the case of most species of Parnassius. The majority of swallowtail species and the greatest diversity are found in the tropics and subtropical regions between 20°N and 20°S, particularly Southeast Asia, and between 20°N and 40°N in East Asia. Only 12 species are found in Europe and only one species, Papilio machaon is found in the British Isles. North America has 40 species, including several tropical species and Parnassius.

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Wikipedia