
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.
State | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | No date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
Andhra Pradesh | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||||
Arunachal Pradesh | 1 | ||||||||||||
Assam | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 1 | ||||
Bihar | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
Chandigarh | |||||||||||||
Chhattisgarh | 2 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 27 | 13 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 1 | ||
Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT | 1 | ||||||||||||
Daman & Diu UT | |||||||||||||
Delhi | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 1 | |||||
Goa | |||||||||||||
Gujarat | 6 | 15 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 9 | 1 | ||||||
Haryana | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
Himachal Pradesh | 1 | ||||||||||||
Jammu and Kashmir UT | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
Jharkhand | |||||||||||||
Karnataka | 3 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 23 | 43 | 18 | 10 | 13 | 9 | 15 | 6 | |
Kerala | 3 | 3 | 16 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 1 | ||
Ladakh UT | |||||||||||||
Lakshadweep | |||||||||||||
Madhya Pradesh | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 1 | |||||
Maharashtra | 12 | 23 | 14 | 34 | 39 | 54 | 23 | 23 | 25 | 43 | 14 | 14 | |
Manipur | 1 | ||||||||||||
Meghalaya | |||||||||||||
Mizoram | |||||||||||||
Nagaland | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
Odisha | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
Puducherry UT | |||||||||||||
Punjab | 2 | ||||||||||||
Rajasthan | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||
Sikkim | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
Tamil Nadu | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||
Tripura | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
Uttar Pradesh | 1 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | |||||
Uttarakhand | 2 | 2 | 7 | 2 | |||||||||
West Bengal | 5 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 5 | |
Total | 27 | 33 | 34 | 90 | 99 | 155 | 107 | 89 | 117 | 97 | 80 | 36 |
Cullen corylifolium (Robinson et al. 2010; K. Kunte pers. obs. 2017), (Fabaceae). Ziziphus (Robinson et al. 2010), Tilia (Robinson et al. 2010) (Malvaceae). Ziziphus jujuba (Wynter-Blyth 1957; Kunte 2000; Robinson et al. 2010) (Rhamnaceae). Rutaceae (Robinson et al. 2010), Acronychia pedunculata (Robinson et al. 2010), Aegle (Robinson et al. 2010), Aegle marmelos (Wynter-Blyth 1957; Kunte 2000; Robinson et al. 2010), Chloroxylon swietenia (Wynter-Blyth 1957; Kunte 2000; Robinson et al. 2010), Citrus (Robinson et al. 2010), Citrus aurantiifolia (Wynter-Blyth 1957; Kunte 2000; Robinson et al. 2010), Citrus maxima (Wynter-Blyth 1957; Kunte 2000; Robinson et al. 2010), Citrus sinensis (Wynter-Blyth 1957; Kunte 2000; Robinson et al. 2010), Glycosmis pentaphylla (Wynter-Blyth 1957; Kunte 2000; Robinson et al. 2010), Limonia elephantum (Robinson et al. 2010), Murraya (Robinson et al. 2010), Murraya koenigii (Wynter-Blyth 1957; Kunte 2000; Robinson et al. 2010), Ruta angustifolia (Wynter-Blyth 1957; Kunte 2000; Robinson et al. 20100, Ruta graveolens (Wynter-Blyth 1957; Kunte 2000; Robinson et al. 2010), Toddalia trifoliata (Robinson et al. 2010) (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, 10:11495–11550.
For the complete list of larval host plants of Indian butterflies, see the page on larval host plants.
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, 10:11495–11550.
For the complete list of larval host plants of Indian butterflies, see the page on larval host plants.
Page citation
Anonymous 2023. 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 2023/06/02.