Papilio machaon

Also known as Old World swallowtail, Swallowtail, Old World Swallowtail

species of insect

OverviewAI-generated

*Papilio machaon* is a species of butterfly classified within the family Papilionidae. It belongs to the order Lepidoptera, class Insecta, phylum Arthropoda, and kingdom Animalia. The taxon was described by Linnaeus in 1758.

The species has a wingspan of 73. Its conservation status is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List in 2025. Records for this organism have been documented in Belgium, Morocco, France, the United States, and Italy. These records are held by institutions including RBINS-SCIENTIFIC HERITAGE, UAM, and UMNH.

Synthesized by Vinony from 24 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, GBIF, IUCN Red List, Gbif Occ, iDigBio, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

In the Vinony graph

Within Vinony's link graph, Papilio machaon is referenced by 139 other articles, and connects out to Daucus carota, pupa and Papilionidae.

Vinony files it under Animal taxa named by Carl Linnaeus, Butterflies described in 1758 and Butterflies of Africa.

Its subject is documented across 65 Wikipedia language editions.

Species

Least Concern

Papilio machaon

SPECIES

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderLepidoptera
FamilyPapilionidae

Observations recorded511,946

金鳳蝶（Old World swallowtail，学名：Papilio machaon）又名黄凤蝶、茴香凤蝶、胡萝卜凤蝶，是鳳蝶科中的一種蝴蝶，牠分佈在歐洲及亞洲的全北區，並北美洲。飛得很快，經常會停在花間吃花蜜。牠們出沒於高山的草原及山邊，更喜歡向山頂飛。在低地，牠們也會在花園出沒。

via GBIF · IUCN

Museum specimens

Specimen records: 2,664
With media: 77
Family: Papilionidae
Collections: RBINS-SCIENTIFIC HERITAGE, UAM, UMNH
Recorded in: Belgium, Morocco, France, United States, Italy

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Wikidata facts

Instance of: taxon
Parent taxon: Papilio
Named after: Machaon
Image: Papilio machaon MHNT CUT 2013 3 11 Cahors Female.jpg

Show 10 more facts

taxon name: Papilio machaon
Commons category: Papilio machaon
taxon rank: species
Commons gallery: Papilio machaon
taxon common name: 산호랑나비
has host: Zizia aptera
wingspan: 73
short name: P. machaon
Digital Atlas of Idaho URL: digitalatlas.cose.isu.edu/bio/insects/butrfly/fampap/pamaf.htm
taxon author citation: Linnaeus, 1758

Sources (7)

via Wikidata · CC0

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Encyclopedic overview

Papilio machaon, the Old World swallowtail, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. The butterfly is also known as the common yellow swallowtail or simply the swallowtail (a common name applied to all members of the family, but this species was the first to be given the name). It is the type species of the genus Papilio. This widespread species is found in much of the Palearctic and in North America.

Etymology

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Papilio machaon” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.