Black swallowtail, species uncertain
Papilio sp.
Swallowtail, unidentified · Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden · 7 February 2026
A black swallowtail in the butterfly house at Fairchild, wings uniformly black with only a faint dusting of iridescent scaling and no red or white markings visible from this angle. The all-black swallowtails are mostly Asian, butterflies of forest and garden from India to Japan, and mostly mimics of one poisonous model or another.
Consistent with several large Asian Papilio species, dark female forms among them, but I can't narrow it further without a clearer view of the underside. The mimicry is why there are so many of them and why they are so hard to tell apart.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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