Red Helen swallowtail
Papilio helenus Linnaeus, 1758
Status not recordedbutterflies and moths
The red helen swallowtail (Papilio helenus) is a species in the family Papilionidae, order Lepidoptera.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the red helen swallowtail
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 9.3 cm – 11.3 cm
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- On the wing
- January to August, October to December
- Generations a year
- Several
- Larval food plants
- Rutaceae family
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the red helen swallowtail?
Where does the red helen swallowtail live?
Not recorded
Is the red helen 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 red helen swallowtail classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classInsecta
- orderLepidoptera
- familyPapilionidae
- genusPapilio
- SpeciesPapilio helenus Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms Menelaides helenus, Papilio daksha, Papilio helenus aulus, Papilio helenus biseriatus, Papilio helenus florentis, Papilio helenus fortunius, Papilio helenus helenus, Papilio helenus mooreanus, Papilio helenus opacus, Papilio helenus orosius, Papilio helenus semnus, Papilio helenus var. palawanicus, Papilio nicconicolens
Other names and names in other languages (11)
- Red HelenEnglish
- ৰঙা হেলেনAssamese
- চান্দাBangla
- 紋黄揚羽Japanese
- 무늬박이제비나비Korean
- கறுப்பு அழகிTamil
- ผีเสื้อหางติ่งเฮเลนThai
- 玉斑凤蝶Chinese
- モンキアゲハJapanese
- 玉斑鳳蝶Chinese
- 白紋鳳蝶Chinese
Relatives of the red helen swallowtail
Other species in the same genus Papilio.

Swallowtail
Papilio machaon
Lemon butterfly
Papilio demoleus
Alexanor swallowtail
Papilio alexanor
Orange dog
Papilio demodocus
Common Mormon swallowtail
Papilio polytes
Corsican swallowtail
Papilio hospiton
CompareRed Helen swallowtail vs SwallowtailRed Helen swallowtail vs Lemon butterflyRed Helen swallowtail vs Alexanor swallowtailRed Helen swallowtail vs Orange dog
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the red helen swallowtail?
An adult red helen swallowtail has a wingspan of 9.3 cm – 11.3 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
What kind of animal is the red helen swallowtail?
The red helen swallowtail (Papilio helenus) 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.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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). Red Helen swallowtail (Papilio helenus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-helen-swallowtail
“Red Helen swallowtail (Papilio helenus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-helen-swallowtail.
@misc{red_helen_swallowtail_2026,
title = {Red Helen swallowtail (Papilio helenus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-helen-swallowtail},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}