Saharan swallowtail
Papilio saharae Oberthür, 1879
Status not recordedbutterflies and moths
The saharan swallowtail (Papilio saharae) is a species in the family Papilionidae, order Lepidoptera.
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Quick facts about the saharan swallowtail
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 6 cm – 10 cm
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- flowers
- Habitat
- grassland
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- On the wing
- February to July, September to October
- Generations a year
- Several
- Larval food plants
- Apiaceae family
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the saharan swallowtail?
Where does the saharan swallowtail live?
Not recorded
Is the saharan 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 saharan swallowtail classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classInsecta
- orderLepidoptera
- familyPapilionidae
- genusPapilio
- SpeciesPapilio saharae Oberthür, 1879
Other names and names in other languages (7)
- Desert swallowtailEnglish
- WüstenschwalbenschwanzGerman
- Porte-queue érémicoleFrench
- זנב סנונית מדבריHebrew
- サハラキアゲハJapanese
- WoestijnkoninginnenpageDutch
- Sahara-SchwalbenschwanzGerman
Relatives of the saharan 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
CompareSaharan swallowtail vs SwallowtailSaharan swallowtail vs Lemon butterflySaharan swallowtail vs Alexanor swallowtailSaharan swallowtail vs Orange dog
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the saharan swallowtail?
An adult saharan swallowtail has a wingspan of 6 cm – 10 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
What does the saharan swallowtail eat?
Its recorded main food is flowers.
What kind of animal is the saharan swallowtail?
The saharan swallowtail (Papilio saharae) 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).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Saharan swallowtail (Papilio saharae). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/saharan-swallowtail
“Saharan swallowtail (Papilio saharae).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/saharan-swallowtail.
@misc{saharan_swallowtail_2026,
title = {Saharan swallowtail (Papilio saharae)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/saharan-swallowtail},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}