CreatureData

King swallowtail

Papilio thoas Linnaeus, 1771

Status not recordedbutterflies and moths

The king swallowtail (Papilio thoas) is a species in the family Papilionidae, order Lepidoptera.

No freely licensed photo yet

Quick facts about the king swallowtail

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
5.6 cm – 12.1 cm
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
On the wing
February, April, July to August, December
Generations a year
Several
Larval food plants
Rutaceae family
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the king swallowtail?

KING SWALLOWTAIL · WINGSPAN 12.1 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 12.1 cm, the recorded maximum wingspan of the king swallowtail is about 7.1% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the king swallowtail live?

Not recorded

Is the king 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 king swallowtail classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumArthropoda
  3. classInsecta
  4. orderLepidoptera
  5. familyPapilionidae
  6. genusPapilio
  7. SpeciesPapilio thoas Linnaeus, 1771

Synonyms Heraclides thoas, Papilio thoas autocles, Papilio thoas brasiliensis, Papilio thoas nealces

Other names and names in other languages (1)
  • Thoas swallowtailEnglish

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the king swallowtail

Other species in the same genus Papilio.

Orange dog

Papilio demodocus

PapilionidaeNo free photo yet

CompareKing swallowtail vs SwallowtailKing swallowtail vs Lemon butterflyKing swallowtail vs Alexanor swallowtailKing swallowtail vs Orange dog

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the king swallowtail?

An adult king swallowtail has a wingspan of 5.6 cm – 12.1 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the king swallowtail?

The king swallowtail (Papilio thoas) belongs to the family Papilionidae in the order Lepidoptera.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). King swallowtail (Papilio thoas). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/king-swallowtail

MLA

“King swallowtail (Papilio thoas).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/king-swallowtail.

BibTeX
@misc{king_swallowtail_2026,
  title = {King swallowtail (Papilio thoas)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/king-swallowtail},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}