''Papilio thoas'', the king swallowtail or Thoas swallowtail, is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises ...

of the family

Papilionidae 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 larges ...

. It is found in the southernmost United States, Mexico, Central America and South America (as far south as

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

). The species is easily confused with the

giant swallowtail The giant swallowtail (''Papilio cresphontes'') is the largest butterfly in North America. It is abundant through many parts of eastern North America; populations from western North America and down into Panama are now (as of 2014) considered ...

, which it closely resembles in both larval and adult stages. The caterpillars feed on the leaves of citrus plants (

Rutaceae The Rutaceae is a family, commonly known as the rueRUTACEAE
in BoDD – Botanical Der ...

). They have also been reported as feeding on a member of the genus ''

Piper Piper may refer to: People * Piper (given name) * Piper (surname) Arts and entertainment Fictional characters Comics * Piper (Morlock), in the Marvel Universe * Piper (Mutate), in the Marvel Universe Television * Piper Chapman, le ...

''. Adult Thoas swallowtails fly year round in the tropics, feeding on nectar of a variety of flowers, including ''

Lantana ''Lantana'' () is a genus of about 150 species of perennial flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. They are native to tropical regions of the Americas and Africa but exist as an introduced species in numerous areas, especially ...

'', ''

Stachytarpheta ''Stachytarpheta'' is a plant genus in the verbena family (biology), family (Verbenaceae). The flowers are rich in nectar and popular with many butterflies, such as the South Asian crimson rose (''Atrophaneura hector''), Malabar banded swallowtai ...

'', and ''

Bougainvillea ''Bougainvillea'' ( , ) is a genus of thorny ornamental vines, bushes, and trees belonging to the four o' clock family, Nyctaginaceae. It is native to eastern South America, found from Brazil, west to Peru, and south to southern Argentina. ...

'' among other species. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan ...

is 100–130 mm.

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically.''Papilio''
funet.fi *''P. t. autocles'' Rothschild & Jordan, 1906 *''P. t. brasiliensis'' Rothschild & Jordan, 1906 *''P. t. cynrias'' Ménétriés, 1857 *''P. t. nealces'' Rothschild & Jordan, 1906 *''P. t. oviedo'' Gundlach, 1866 *''P. t. thoantiades'' Burmeister, 1878 *''P. t. thoas''

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, t ...

, 1771 File:Papilio thoas thoas MHNT dos.jpg, ''P. t. thoas'' File:Papilio thoas thoas MHNT ventre.jpg, ''P. t. thoas'', underside File:Papilio thoas thoas MHNT.jpg, Dorsal and ventral view File:Papilio_thoas-ventral.jpg, Underside

Iguazu Falls Iguazú Falls or Iguaçu Falls ( gn, Chororõ Yguasu , es, Cataratas del Iguazú, links=no ; pt, Cataratas do Iguaçu ) are waterfalls of the Iguazu River on the border of the Argentine province of Misiones and the Brazilian state of Paran� ...

References

External links

Thoas Swallowtail
Butterflies and Moths of North America * thoas Butterflies described in 1771 Butterflies of North America Butterflies of Central America Butterflies of the Caribbean Papilionidae of South America Butterflies of Cuba Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{papilionidae-stub