CreatureData

Lemon butterfly

Papilio demoleus Linnaeus, 1758

Status not recordedbutterflies and moths

The lemon butterfly (Papilio demoleus) is a species in the family Papilionidae, order Lepidoptera.

No freely licensed photo yet

Quick facts about the lemon butterfly

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
5.7 cm – 8.25 cm
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
On the wing
All year
Generations a year
Several
Larval food plants
Rutaceae family
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the lemon butterfly?

LEMON BUTTERFLY · WINGSPAN 8.25 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 8.25 cm, the recorded maximum wingspan of the lemon butterfly is about 4.9% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the lemon butterfly live?

Not recorded

Is the lemon butterfly 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 lemon butterfly classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumArthropoda
  3. classInsecta
  4. orderLepidoptera
  5. familyPapilionidae
  6. genusPapilio
  7. SpeciesPapilio demoleus Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms Papilio demoleus libanius, Papilio demoleus pictus, Papilio demoleus sthenelinus, Papilio erithonius f. malayanus, Papilio malayanus

Other names and names in other languages (34)
  • Checkered swallowtailEnglish
  • Chequered swallowtailEnglish
  • Citrus swallowtailEnglish
  • Common lime butterflyEnglish
  • Dingy swallowtailEnglish
  • Lemon swallowtailEnglish
  • Lime butterflyEnglish
  • Lime swallowtailEnglish
  • Small citrus butterflyEnglish
  • فراشة الليمونArabic
  • নেমুটেঙা পখিলাAssamese
  • otakárek citrusovýCzech
  • Indischer Citrus-SchwalbenschwanzGerman
  • Papilio AjedrezadoSpanish
  • Voilier échiquierFrench
  • זנב סנונית הלימוןHebrew
  • CitruspillangóHungarian
  • Kupu-kupu jerukIndonesian
  • Macaone limoneItalian
  • オナシアゲハJapanese
  • लिंबाळीMarathi
  • LimoenvlinderDutch
  • Парусник ДемолейRussian
  • எலுமிச்சை அழகிTamil
  • నిమ్మ చిలుకTelugu
  • ผีเสื้อหนอนมะนาวThai
  • Nusaybin GüzeliTurkish
  • 达摩凤蝶Chinese
  • Mariposa cometa de los cítricosSpanish
  • Mariposa del LimónSpanish
  • 無尾鳳蝶Chinese
  • 花鳳蝶Chinese
  • 達摩鳳蝶Chinese
  • 黃斑鳳蝶Chinese

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the lemon butterfly

Other species in the same genus Papilio.

Orange dog

Papilio demodocus

PapilionidaeNo free photo yet

CompareLemon butterfly vs SwallowtailLemon butterfly vs Alexanor swallowtailLemon butterfly vs Orange dogLemon butterfly vs Common Mormon swallowtail

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the lemon butterfly?

An adult lemon butterfly has a wingspan of 5.7 cm – 8.25 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the lemon butterfly?

The lemon butterfly (Papilio demoleus) 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.

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.

Preview the card

APA

CreatureData. (2026). Lemon butterfly (Papilio demoleus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/papilio-demoleus

MLA

“Lemon butterfly (Papilio demoleus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/papilio-demoleus.

BibTeX
@misc{papilio_demoleus_2026,
  title = {Lemon butterfly (Papilio demoleus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/papilio-demoleus},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}