Papilio thoas
species of insect
Papilio thoas, the king swallowtail or Thoas swallowtail, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. It is found in the southernmost United States, Mexico, Central America and South America (as far south as Argentina and Uruguay). The species is easily confused with the giant swallowtail, which it closely resembles in both larval and adult stages. The caterpillars feed on the leaves of citrus plants (Rutaceae). They have also been reported as feeding on a member of the genus Piper.
Description
A large species (12 to 14 cm (4.7 to 5.5 in) wingspan. The wings are narrow. The forewings are mostly brown. A yellow band runs from the tip, becoming narrower towards the back. There is also a row of yellow arcuate spots on the underside of the wing edge.
The public source identifies “Papilio thoas” as species of insect. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Papilio, thoas and species.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1272928. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Papilio thoas” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.