Dragon swallowtail
Sericinus montela Gray, 1852
Status not recordedbutterflies and moths
The dragon swallowtail (Sericinus montela) is a species in the family Papilionidae, order Lepidoptera.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the dragon swallowtail
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- On the wing
- April to July
- Generations a year
- Two
- Larval food plants
- Aristolochiaceae family
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the dragon swallowtail live?
Not recorded
Where has it been introduced?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the dragon swallowtail as introduced in 1 country, and flagged as invasive in it.
- Japaninvasive
Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).
Is the dragon swallowtail endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the dragon swallowtail classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classInsecta
- orderLepidoptera
- familyPapilionidae
- genusSericinus
- SpeciesSericinus montela Gray, 1852
Synonyms Papilio telamon, Parnassius phoebus eisneri, Sericinus fortunei, Sericinus montelus f. amurensis, Sericinus telamon, Sericinus telamon absurdus, Sericinus telamon eisneri, Sericinus telamon elegans, Sericinus telamon f. strandi, Sericinus telamon hoenei, Sericinus telamon hunanensis, Sericinus telamon kansuensis, Sericinus telamon leechi, Sericinus telamon magnus, Sericinus telamon roseni, Sericinus telamon rudolphi, Sericinus telamon shantungensis, Sericinus telamon telmonula, Sericinus telamon var. amurensis, Sericinus telamon var. fixseni, Sericinus telamon var. koreana, Sericinus telamon var. telemachus, Sericinus telmona
Other names and names in other languages (5)
- ホソオアゲハJapanese
- 꼬리명주나비Korean
- Серицин МонтелаRussian
- 丝带凤蝶Chinese
- ホソオチョウJapanese
Relatives of the dragon swallowtail
Other species in the same family Papilionidae.

Swallowtail
Papilio machaon

Apollo
Parnassius apollo

Scarce swallowtail
Iphiclides podalirius

Queen Alexandra's birdwing
Ornithoptera alexandrae
Clouded Apollo
Parnassius mnemosyne
Southern Festoon
Zerynthia polyxena
CompareDragon swallowtail vs SwallowtailDragon swallowtail vs ApolloDragon swallowtail vs Scarce swallowtailDragon swallowtail vs Queen Alexandra's birdwing
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
Is the dragon swallowtail an invasive species?
In some places. The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species flags the dragon swallowtail as invasive in 1 country: Japan. It lists it as introduced in 1 in all.
What kind of animal is the dragon swallowtail?
The dragon swallowtail (Sericinus montela) belongs to the family Papilionidae in the order Lepidoptera.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.
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Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Dragon swallowtail (Sericinus montela). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/dragon-swallowtail
“Dragon swallowtail (Sericinus montela).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/dragon-swallowtail.
@misc{dragon_swallowtail_2026,
title = {Dragon swallowtail (Sericinus montela)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/dragon-swallowtail},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}