Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Papilio ornythion Boisduval, 1836
Identification
Similar to
Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes), but paler yellow, the bands on the forewing just touch at the tip (not crossing), and lacks yellow on the tails.
Has been reported from southern Arizona and northwestern Mexico, but those records are referable to the similar and closely related P. astyalus bajaensis. In Texas, P. astyalus pallas usually has a distinct yellow spot, often with a dark line through it, in the discal cell of the upper forewing of males (lacking or weak in P. ornythion), and in the broader yellow postmedian row of spots the 8th up from the bottom is long (roughly as long as the spot below it) and occupies much of that cell (in P. ornythion it this spot is distinctly divided or only a short outer part is present). The all black tail in male P. astyalus is usually shorter and tends to be more bent at the base so that the tail does not continue straight in line with the corresponding vein in the wing. On the under side the tail of male P. ornythion often has a yellow streak down the middle (all black in P. astyalus).
Females in P. ornythion are shaped as in males, with a single long straight tail on the hind wing, and often they are colored similarly. However, dark females variably lack most to nearly all of the yellow pattern of males, though otherwise are quite similar. In P. astyalus, females have hind wings usually with the tail quite short and narrow, and typically also with short narrow tail-like projection at the end of other veins; they are dark, usually with only marginal yellow dots and a wash of yellowish discal scaling on the front wings, while on the hind wing the pattern consists of concentric rows of crescent-shaped spots, reddish, bluish, and closest to the wing margin yellowish (though these may all be yellowish on the upper side of the wing).
Range
c. & s. TX (as a stray) to Honduras -
Map (MPG, BOA)
Food
Larval hosts in Citrus Family (Rutaceae).