Western Giant Swallowtail
Papilio rumiko
Who am I? 2
Hi! I am Papilio rumiko, or more commonly, the Western Giant Swallowtail. We LOVE citrus! Unfortunately, sometimes we love the tangy fruit trees a little too much and can be considered pests (~whispers~ It's mostly the kids). They are feisty, those little ones. Parasitic wasps and flies have trouble taking them down because of how much they resemble... poop. No one wants to touch that. Not even any other insect wants to associate with them because if anyone gets too close, they will whip out their snake-like lookin' gland and let me tell you, it smells horrid. Just a fun fact, the chemical stench they give off is a 40:60 mixture of isobutyric acid and 2-methyl butyric acid. Our kids are like pubescent human teenagers, but worse! Not even the birds want to eat them! But... all of this is a good thing in terms of us adults. More of us will live through to adulthood so that you can enjoy the views we give (~looks away~ at the cost of some citrus trees...).
Quick facts 2
Common name: Giant Swallowtail
Scientific name:Papilio rumiko (Shiraiwa & Grishin 2014)
Characteristics:
- Wing span: 4 - 6 1/4 inches (10.2 - 16 cm)
- Base color is black
- Forewing: diagonal yellow line
- Tails lined with black and have a yellow fill
- Underside is primarily yellow
- Underside (middle of) hindwing has red interior to blue line
- Lays single eggs on upperside of host plant leaves and twigs
- Eggs are spherical and have a secretion that looks like an orange peel
- Caterpillars look like bird droppings
Host plant: Primarily plants from the citrus family (Rutaceae)
Nectar plant: Typically lantana, azalea, bougainvilla, bouncing Bet, dame's rocket, goldenrod, Japanese honeysuckle, and swamp milkweed; might also drink manure
Distribution: Very common in Florida; Can be found in E. United States, S. and SW United States, Mexico to S. America
Flight times: About 2 broods May - Sept.; all year in Florida and the southern US. See seasonality: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/509627-Papilio-rumiko
Read more about me here: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/citrus/giantswallowtail.htm
Where can you find me on campus? 2
You will most likely find the Western Giant Swallowtail in the citrus trees around campus (similar to the Black Swallowtail). Here is a list of where these trees may be located (these are only some):
Orange trees:
- Beside the Arizona Stadium, east of Hopi dorm
- In front of the Historic District dorms
- Between Gila and Maricopa dorms
- West side of the Steward Observatory
Calamansi trees:
- In the Women's Plaza
- Lined up on the east side of the Civil Engineering building
See a more complete location list on the campus arboretum's website:
Calamansi: https://apps.cals.arizona.edu/arboretum/taxon.aspx?id=75
Orange trees: https://apps.cals.arizona.edu/arboretum/taxon.aspx?id=76
Other citruses can also be found by navigating through the citrus section of the website!
References 2
Animal Diversity Web – University of Michigan, https://animaldiversity.org/
Bug Guide – Iowa State University, https://bugguide.net/node/view/15740
Discover Life, https://www.discoverlife.org/
Encyclopedia of Life, https://eol.org/
iNaturalist, https://www.inaturalist.org/home
Sources and Credits
- (c) Maxine Cruz, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Maxine Cruz
- (c) Maxine Cruz, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
More Info
iNat Map
| Size | large |
|---|---|
| Color | black, blue, yellow |
| Pattern | bands |
