Family Papilionidae - Swallowtail and Parnassian Butterflies
Most North American members of this family are large, brightly colored butterflies with tailed hind wings. Live butterflies photographed in the wild in the USA.
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Family Papilionidaeincludes about 560 species worldwide; 33 of these live in North America [1]. Papilionidae is further subdivided into two subfamilies, Papilioninae and Parnassiinae. Most swallowtails are large, brightly colored or black butterflies with one or more tails on the hindwings, with a few exceptions having no tails at all, e.g. genus Parides [1].

Adult swallowtails frequent woodland edges and glades, weedy fields and gardens, just about anywhere there can be found open spaces and flowers. The eastern tiger swallowtail is particularly fond of sunflowers in all their wild varieties. Larval host plants include those in the family Rutaceae (

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

I followed the lovely female pictured here around for about two hours to get these shots - I was shooting exclusively available light in those days, with a point-and-shoot Kodak camera.

Black Swallowtail
Tiger Swallowtail, black female
Tiger Swallowtail, black female
Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly
Pipevine Swallowtail

References
  1. Bugguide.net, "Family Papilionidae - Swallowtails, Parnassians"

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