Talk:Swallowtail butterfly

Swallowtail butterfly was nominated as a good article, but it did not meet the good article criteria at the time (November 11, 2013). There are suggestions below for improving the article. If you can improve it, please do; it may then be renominated.

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Further Edits

I split up the section entitled 'Natural History' (as I felt it was somewhat of a misnomer; I was expecting to read about its evolution and found it was about mating and foodplants) into two categories: one about mating and the young and one about foodplants. I wasn't able to find a lot of information on both but I did add some to each. I also edited the article and cut out a large section of the morphology because I felt it was too technical for the average Wikipedia user. I also changed parts in the introduction that I felt were lengthy/too technical for the average user. NK2015 (talk) 17:30, 19 Oct 2013 (UTC)

Also, I am planning on nominating this page for 'Good Article' status soon as it seems to have most everything that a good article requires (lots of pictures (even a video), broad information about all aspects of the butterfly (appearance, life cycle, food, predators, defense mechanisms, mating, parental investment or in this case, lack of, its relationship with humans, its role in popular culture)). If anyone sees anything that they think can be improved upon, please write it up on the Talk page! If not feel free to nominate it also as it might take me some time to get to that. NK2015 (talk) 17:35, 19 Oct 2013 (UTC)

Query

We are doing a project in science adn my friend tells me my anise shallowtall butterfly is also a kind of moth! can you tell me if it is are not? --66.76.71.24 19:08, 12 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I am doing a project on the Corsican Swallowtail and want to know What role it has in its ecosystem, do you think you can help? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.209.207.45 (talk) 23:19, 10 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Very belated reply, merely done for the sake of form. Speaking coloquially, an insect of the family Leidoptera is considered to be either a butterfly or a moth, and your Anise Swallowtail is a butterfly. Also see the [[Differences_between_butterflies_and_moths]|differences between butterflies and moths]. There is, however, a family of moths called moth-butterflies (family Hedylidae) which are now thought to be closer to butterflies than to moths.AshLin (talk) 15:34, 11 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

More information can be found in Wikipedia on the Corsican Swallowtail. AshLin (talk) 15:34, 11 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Etymology

I have removed the misleading statement "The adults are often tailed like the forked tail of some swallows, giving the insect its name." and corrected it. There is a false understanding here about how the insects gained their name. The type species is Papilio machaon, and the English name originates from the UK. The only type of swallow seen in the UK is, unsuprisingly, called the swallow there (surprise, surprise, it's another type species) but is known internationally as the barn swallow to differentiate it from other swallows.

So, the first swallowtail butterfly to be so named, is named after one particular type of swallow. Not 'some swallows', but one specific swallow. Swallowtail butterflies as a type gained their name from the first use of the term made in reference to barn swallows. 86.142.7.186 (talk) 16:21, 4 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Article name

Why is this the only "true-butterfly" family with an article name associated with a colloquial reference? Nymphalidae, Lycaenidae, Riodinidae and Pieridae all have their article named as such, why is Papilionidae an exception? Atreyiu (talk) 23:25, 10 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Special Adaptaions and Defenses section

I have elaborated on the Batesian mimicry that the swallowtail butterfly exhibits by expanding upon the biological basis (the biochemical pathway that leads to the differing phenotypes) and the reason for this difference. I have also elaborated on the important fact that only the females show mimicry, and of the females, only a certain subset do--and I have used a study as an example to show why researchers believe this is so (male aggression). I have split this section into two sub-sections for clarity. Before this, all this section had was a brief mention that the butterfly used mimicry as a defense. NK2015 (talk) 14:26, 17 Sept 2013 (UTC) (finished the major edits of the page on 17 Sept 2013; fixed a comma and added the date on 19 Sept 2013 to this talk page)

Looks good to me! JonRichfield (talk) 18:26, 21 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Swallowtail butterfly/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

Needs drawing of the Phylogenetic trees. Shyamal 02:46, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Last edited at 02:46, 3 December 2006 (UTC). Substituted at 20:16, 1 May 2016 (UTC)

The taxonomy section can greatly benefit from a flowchart that represents the subfamilies.Shreenidhipm (talk) 01:42, 14 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Behavioral Ecology Student - Wikiproject

Hi, below are some areas and points in the article that I believe need expansion. These are all open the debate, but I feel that they would strengthen the article.

Creating new Behavior section and moving all information under Special adaptations and Defense. This would allow the addition of more behavioral information.
Under the new Behavior section, add a section regarding migration. Some families of Swallowtail relocate to warmer climates to survive winter months.
Any differences between appearance or behavior of male and female swallowtails.

Slzeng (talk) 21:33, 9 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Suggestions/Changes

Hi! I was reading the page and really enjoyed reading about this butterfly. I thought the flow would be better if the taxonomy section was towards the beginning, therefore I did move it. If it is still awkward please edit as you wish!

Jenniferra (talk) 21:43, 13 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Featured picture scheduled for POTD

Hello! This is to let editors know that File:Spanish festoon (Zerynthia rumina).jpg, a featured picture used in this article, has been selected as the English Wikipedia's picture of the day (POTD) for August 8, 2024. A preview of the POTD is displayed below and can be edited at Template:POTD/2024-08-08. For the greater benefit of readers, any potential improvements or maintenance that could benefit the quality of this article should be done before its scheduled appearance on the Main Page. If you have any concerns, please place a message at Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day. Thank you! — Amakuru (talk) 10:36, 1 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies in the family Papilionidae, and include over 550 species. Though the majority are tropical, swallowtails inhabit every continent except Antarctica. The family includes the largest butterflies in the world, the birdwing butterflies of the genus Ornithoptera. This Zerynthia rumina butterfly, also known as the Spanish festoon, was photographed in Extremadura, Spain.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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