Subspecies in India
There are numerous subspecies recorded from India. Taxonomic validity and specific status of some of the taxa is still disputed. This information will be provided here once a detailed genetic study of populations across the Himalaya and NE India is available.
Taxonomic Information
This was the first butterfly described in the Linnean taxonomy. Thus, this is the most definitive butterfly in taxonomic rankings, being the type-species of the genus Papilio and other higher taxonomic rankings for butterflies.
Photo Gallery and Species Biology
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This species has been recorded so far from Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir UT, Ladakh UT, Punjab, Sikkim, and Uttarakhand, within the Indian limits.
| State | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | No date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT | |||||||||||||
| Andhra Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Arunachal Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Assam | |||||||||||||
| Bihar | |||||||||||||
| Chandigarh | |||||||||||||
| Chhattisgarh | |||||||||||||
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT | |||||||||||||
| Daman & Diu UT | |||||||||||||
| Delhi | |||||||||||||
| Goa | |||||||||||||
| Gujarat | |||||||||||||
| Haryana | |||||||||||||
| Himachal Pradesh | 1 | 3 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Jammu and Kashmir UT | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Jharkhand | |||||||||||||
| Karnataka | |||||||||||||
| Kerala | |||||||||||||
| Ladakh UT | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Lakshadweep | |||||||||||||
| Madhya Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Maharashtra | |||||||||||||
| Manipur | |||||||||||||
| Meghalaya | |||||||||||||
| Mizoram | |||||||||||||
| Nagaland | |||||||||||||
| Odisha | |||||||||||||
| Puducherry UT | |||||||||||||
| Punjab | |||||||||||||
| Rajasthan | |||||||||||||
| Sikkim | 3 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Tamil Nadu | |||||||||||||
| Telangana | |||||||||||||
| Tripura | |||||||||||||
| Uttar Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Uttarakhand | 1 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| West Bengal | |||||||||||||
| Total | 2 | 5 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
Page citation
Kanwal, A., A. Soman, S. Sharma, S. Sondhi, and K. Kunte. 2026. Papilio machaon Linnaeus, 1758 – Common Yellow 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-machaon, accessed 2026/05/24.