This is a list of the butterflies of family Papilionidae, or the swallowtails, which are found in India. This family of large and beautiful butterflies is well represented with about 84 species found within Indian borders, the exact number depending on the taxonomy followed.
Two of the three papilionid subfamilies are represented in India, namely, the Parnassiinae or Apollos, with 14 species, and the Papilioninae or swallowtails, with 70 species.
Indian swallowtails are found almost everywhere in the country. The Malabar banded peacock (Papilio buddha) and the Malabar banded swallowtail (Papilio liomedon) fly at sea level while the Apollos (Parnassius species), are to be found only in the highest alpine meadows of the Himalayas. Some species such as the common Mormon (Papilio polytes) and the blue Mormon (Papilio polymnestor) fly at ground level whereas others, such as the tailed jay (Graphium agamemnon) are normally found flying high in the forest canopy. The lime butterfly (Papilio demoleus) is a creature of arid scrub-land, occasionally being spotted even in the Thar Desert, while the tropical evergreen forests have their own representatives, such as the red Helen (Papilio helenus), the common bluebottle (Graphium cloanthus) and the Malabar raven (Papilio dravidarum). Indian papilionids such as the common Mormon (Papilio polytes) and great Mormon (Papilio memnon) show polymorphism with many mimetic female forms.
While spread over all the biogeographic zones of India, amongst swallowtails, endemism is found only in the Western Ghats. Notable endemics are the southern birdwing (Troides minos), Malabar banded swallowtail (Papilio liomedon), Malabar raven (Papilio dravidarum), Malabar rose (Pachliopta pandiyana) and the Malabar banded peacock (Papilio buddha).
The subgenus, where applicable, is given as an additional epithet in parentheses in between the genus and species epithets in the scientific name.
The Apollos, Parnassius are different in appearance from other swallowtails, being of moderate size, with white ground colour, spotted with red, black and blue.
Bhutan glory, Bhutanitis lidderdalii Atkinson, 1873
Maharaja Apollo, Parnassius maharaja Avinoff, 1913
Karakoram banded Apollo, Parnassius staudingeri hunza Grumm-Grshimailo, 1888*
Ladakh banded Apollo, Parnassius stoliczkanus C. & R. Felder, 1865
Parnassius acdestis, Parnassius acdestis Oberthür, 1883*
Imperial Apollo, Parnassius imperator augustus Oberthür, 1883
Regal Apollo, Parnassius charltonius (Gray, 1853)
Varnished Apollo, Parnassius acco Gray, 1852
Hannyngton's Apollo, Parnassius hannyngtoni (Avinoff, 1916)
Black-edged Apollo, Parnassius simo (Gray, 1853)
Common blue Apollo, Parnassius hardwickii (Gray, 1831)
Keeled Apollo, Parnassius jacquemontii (Boisduval, 1836)
Common red Apollo, Parnassius epaphus (Oberthür, 1879)
Parnassius actius (Eversmann, 1843)
Large keeled Apollo, Parnassius tianschianicus (Oberthür, 1879)
Nanda devi Apollo, Parnassius nandadevinensis Weiss, 1990
The swallowtails are generally easily identified in the field by their large size, prominent markings, colour, patterns and variable wing and tail shape.
Common clubtail, Losaria coon (Fabricius, 1793)
Andaman clubtail, Losaria rhodifer (Butler, 1876)
Crimson rose, Pachliopta hector (Linnaeus, 1758)
Malabar rose, Pachliopta pandiyana (Moore, 1881)
Common rose, Pachliopta aristolochiae (Fabricius, 1775)
Common birdwing, Troides helena (Linnaeus, 1758)
Southern birdwing, Troides minos (Cramer, 1779)
Golden birdwing, Troides aeacus (C. & R. Felder, 1860)
Lesser batwing, Atrophaneura aidoneus (Doubleday, 1845)
Common batwing, Atrophaneura varuna (A. White, 1868)
Rose windmill, Byasa latreillei (Donovan, 1826)
De Nicéville's windmill, Byasa polla (de Nicéville, 1897)
Neville's windmill, Byasa nevilli (Wood-Mason, 1882)
Common windmill, Byasa polyeuctes (Doubleday, 1842)
Great windmill, Byasa dasarada (Moore, 1858)
Black windmill, Byasa crassipes (Oberthür, 1893)
Pemberton's windmill or Tytler's windmill, Byasa plutonius (Oberthür, 1876)
Tawny mime, Papilio agestor Gray, 1831
Lesser mime, Papilio epycides Hewitson, 1864
Blue striped mime, Papilio slateri Hewitson, 1859
Great blue mime, Papilio paradoxa (Zinken-Sommer, 1831)
Common mime, Papilio clytia, Linnaeus, 1758
Blue Mormon, Papilio polymnestor (Cramer, 1775)
Great Mormon, Papilio memnon (Linnaeus, 1758)
Andaman Mormon, Papilio mayo (Atkinson, 1873)
Tailed redbreast, Papilio bootes (Westwood, 1842)
Redbreast, Papilio alcmenor (C. & R. Felder, 1864)
Spangle, Papilio protenor (Cramer, 1775)
Yellow-crested spangle, Papilio elephenor (Doubleday, 1845)
Chinese peacock, Papilio bianor Cramer, 1777
Paris peacock, Papilio paris (Linnaeus, 1758)
Blue peacock, Papilio arcturus (Westwood, 1842)
Krishna peacock, Papilio krishna (Moore, 1857)
Common banded peacock, Papilio crino (Fabricius, 1792)
Malabar banded peacock, Papilio buddha (Westwood, 1872)
Malabar raven, Papilio dravidarum (Wood-Mason, 1880)
Common raven, Papilio castor (Westwood, 1842)
Red Helen, Papilio helenus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Yellow Helen, Papilio nephelus (Boisduval, 1836)
Andaman Helen, Papilio prexaspes andamanicus (Goeze, 1779)
Common Mormon, Papilio polytes (Linnaeus, 1758)
Malabar banded swallowtail, Papilio liomedon (Moore, 1874)
Lime butterfly, Papilio demoleus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Common yellow swallowtail, Papilio machaon (Linnaeus, 1758)
Green dragontail, Lamproptera meges (Zinken-Sommer, 1831)
White dragontail, Lamproptera curius (Fabricius, 1787)
Graphium (Graphium) - bluebottles and jays
Tailed jay, Graphium (Graphium) agamemnon (Linnaeus, 1758)
Spotted jay, Graphium (Graphium) arycles (Boisduval, 1836)
Veined jay, Graphium (Graphium) chiron (Wallace, 1865)
Glassy bluebottle, Graphium (Graphium) cloanthus Westwood, 1841
Common jay, Graphium (Graphium) doson (C. Felder & R. Felder, 1864)
Great jay, Graphium (Graphium) eurypylus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Lesser jay, Graphium (Graphium) evemon (Boisduval, 1836)
Common bluebottle, Graphium (Graphium) sarpedon (Linnaeus, 1758)
Great zebra, Graphium (Paranticopsis) xenocles (Doubleday, 1842) (= leucothoe Westwood)
Lesser zebra, Graphium (Paranticopsis) macareus (Godart, 1819)
Spotted zebra, Graphium (Paranticopsis) megarus (Westwood, 1841)
Fourbar swordtail, Graphium (Pathysa) agetes (Westwood, 1841)
Fivebar swordtail, Graphium (Pathysa) antiphates (Cramer, [1775])
Chain swordtail, Graphium (Pathysa) aristeus (Stoll, 1780)
Andaman swordtail, Graphium (Pathysa) epaminondas, Oberthür, 1879
Spot swordtail, Graphium (Pathysa) nomius (Esper, 1798)
Sixbar swordtail, Graphium (Pazala) eurous (Leech, 1893)
Spectacle swordtail, Graphium (Pazala) mandarinus (Oberthür, 1879) (= glycerion Gray)
Meandrusa - hooked swallowtails
Brown gorgon, Meandrusa sciron (Leech, 1890)
Yellow gorgon, Meandrusa payeni (Boisduval, 1836)
Kaiser-e-Hind, Teinopalpus imperialis (Hope, 1843)
