Swallowtail Butterfly

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This article is about the insect. For the 1996 film by Shunji Iwai, please see Swallowtail Butterfly (film).

{{Taxobox | color = pink | name = Swallowtail butterflies | image = AniseSwallowtail.jpg | image_width = 250px | image_caption = Anise Swallowtail, Papilio zelicaon | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Arthropoda | classis = Insecta | ordo = Lepidoptera | subordo = Ditrysia | superfamilia = Papilionoidea | familia = Papilionidae | familia_authority = Latreille, 1802 | type_species = Papilio machaon | type_species_authority = (Old World Swallowtail) | subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies and genera | subdivision = There are 26 genera and about 605 species:

Subfamily Baroniinae
- Baronia
Subfamily Parnassiinae
- Alancastria
- Archon
- Bhutantis
- Hypermnestra
- Luehdorfia
- Parnassus
- Serecinus
Subfamily Papilioninae
- Atrophaneura
- Battus
- Byasa
- Chilasa
- Cressida
- Euryades
- Eurytides
- Graphium
- Iphiclides
- Lamproptera
- Losaria
- Meandrusa
- Mimoides
- Ornithoptera
- Pachliopta
- Papilio
- Parides
- Pharmacophagus
- Protesilaus
- Protographium
- Teinopalpus
- Trogonoptera
- Troides

}}

The swallowtail butterflies are large, colourful butterflies, which form the family Papilionidae. There are at least 550 species, and though the majority are tropical, members of the family are found on all continents except Antarctica. The family includes the largest butterflies in the world, the birdwing butterflies of Australasia (genus Ornithoptera).

Swallowtails differ from all other butterflies in a number of anatomical traits. Most notably, their caterpillars possess a unique organ behind their heads, called the osmeterium. Normally hidden, this forked structure can be everted when the caterpillar is threatened, and used to emit a foul-smelling secretion containing terpenes.

Image:Swallowtail grub.jpg The genera of extant swallowtails are usually classified into three subfamilies, Baroniinae, Parnassiinae and Papilioninae, the latter two being further divided into tribes. An additional subfamily Praepapilioninae, has a single extinct member, known only from a single fossil.

The Oregon Swallowtail Butterfly is the state insect of Oregon; the eastern tiger swallowtail is the state insect of Virginia.

Species include