Spectacular Indigenous Butterflies Of India

Mother nature is full of creativity and it has created creatures of spectacular beauty. One of these creatures, that we can observe in India, are butterflies. India is fortunate enough to home several species of butterflies.

The swallowtails are generally easily identified in the field by their large size, prominent colour, patterns and variable wing & tail shape.

Swallowtail butterflies are of family Papilionidae, and include over 550 species. The forked appearance of the swallowtails' hindwings gives the name swallowtail. Papilio is it's formal name, as papilio is Latin for "butterfly".

1. Papilio buddha, the Malabar banded peacock.
Found in the Western Ghats of India.
Locally common and not rare. Not threatened, protected in India.

2. Papilio liomedon, the Malabar banded swallowtail.
Found in southern India.
Butterfly is rare but distributed from Kerala to Goa. It is not to be found in Maharashtra and Gujarat. It is protected by law in India.

3. Papilio polytes, the common Mormon.
Distributed widely across Asia.
Very common. Not threatened.

4. Papilio polymnestor, the blue Mormon.
It is the State Butterfly of Maharashtra.
Found throughout the year but more common in the monsoon and immediately after it.

5. Graphium agamemnon, the tailed jay.
Also called the green-spotted triangle, tailed green jay, or green triangle.
Is common and not threatened.

6. Papilio demoleus.
Also known as the lime butterfly, lemon butterfly, lime swallowtail, and chequered swallowtail.
Perhaps the most widely distributed swallowtail in the world.

7. Papilio helenus, the red Helen.
Found in forests of southern India.
Found from Kerala to Maharashtra, but rare in Gujarat. Very commonly sighted in Assam.
Common and not threatened.

8. Graphium cloanthus, the glassy bluebottle.
Common, non-threatened.

9. Papilio dravidarum, the Malabar raven.
Found in Western Ghats in India, occurs inKerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Goa.

10. Parnassius imperator, also known as snow Apollos.
Found in North-eastern India including Sikkim.
Not threatened.