Papilio demoleus Linnaeus, 1758 - Lime Swallowtail

Subspecies in India

(1) Papilio demoleus demoleus Linnaeus, 1758 – Northern Lime Swallowtail. The species is also known as the Lime Butterfly.
 

Conservation and Special status

This species is not legally protected in India under any schedules of WildLife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Photo Gallery and Species Biology

This species is distributed throughout the Indo-Australian Region. It occurs across India, except in the arid NW and at elevations above 2,000 m.

StateJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecNo date
Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT12111
Andhra Pradesh11543321
Arunachal Pradesh1
Assam125247181
Bihar11
Chandigarh
Chhattisgarh24387281199111
Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT1
Daman & Diu UT
Delhi2511111241
Goa
Gujarat615414291
Haryana11
Himachal Pradesh1
Jammu and Kashmir UT1111
Jharkhand
Karnataka33118244418121312156
Kerala3316512635841
Ladakh UT
Lakshadweep
Madhya Pradesh132113421
Maharashtra122314344258252425441414
Manipur1
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Nagaland11
Odisha111
Puducherry UT
Punjab2
Rajasthan1221
Sikkim11
Tamil Nadu11341435113
Tripura311
Uttar Pradesh18741245
Uttarakhand3282
West Bengal523772259575
Total27343590105163113901191028036

Cullen corylifolium (=Psoralea corylifolia) (Fabaceae). Tilia spp. (Malvaceae). Ziziphus spp., Ziziphus mauritiana (Rhamnaceae). Acronychia pedunculata, Aegle spp., Aegle marmelos, Chloroxylon swietenia, Citrus spp., Citrus aurantiifoliaCitrus aurantium (=Citrus reticulata), Citrus limon, Citrus maxima, Citrus medica, Clausena anisata (=Clausena dentata), Glycosmis pentaphylla, Limonia acidissima, Murraya spp., Murraya koenigii (=Bergera koenigii), Ruta angustifolia, Ruta graveolens, Toddalia trifoliata (Rutaceae).

Key Reference:
Nitin, R., V. C. Balakrishnan, P. V. Churi, S. Kalesh, S. Prakash, and K. Kunte. 2018. Larval host plants of the butterflies of the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 10(4): 11495–11550.

For the complete list of larval host plants of Indian butterflies, see the page on larval host plants.

Page citation

Anonymous 2024. Papilio demoleus Linnaeus, 1758 – Lime Swallowtail. In Kunte, K., S. Sondhi, and P. Roy (Chief Editors). Butterflies of India, v. 4.12. Published by the Indian Foundation for Butterflies. URL: https://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/papilio-demoleus, accessed 2024/04/19.