Insects › Swallowtails and Parnassians

Western Tiger Swallowtail

Papilio rutulus

Easily confused with

Study checks a spoken answer against these, and tells you which one you named.

Where it is recorded

Records by month in California.January 1,026, February 888, March 925, April 1,719, May 2,083, June 2,786, July 2,137, August 1,547, September 907, October 927, November 1,192, December 919.
United States27,815
California16,885
Canada5,788
British Columbia5,780
Washington3,065
Oregon2,681
Colorado1,585
Alberta1,456
Idaho896
Utah707

Counts show where people looked, not only where it lives.

Traits

Physical

  • MetamorphosisUndergoes dramatic body transformation during developmentFrom its classification
  • ExoskeletonHas a hard external skeletonFrom its classification

Group and habits

  • Animal pollinatorDescends from an animal lineage whose members commonly pollinate flowers.Inferred from its group

Classification

KingdomAnimals · Animalia
PhylumArthropods · Arthropoda
ClassInsects · Insecta
OrderButterflies and Moths · Lepidoptera
FamilySwallowtails and Parnassians · Papilionidae
GenusCommon Swallowtails · Papilio

Sources

Remember the name next time.

Practise Western Tiger Swallowtail with real photos from different observers. Say the name out loud, and it comes back just before you would forget it.