# Scarce Swallowtail

*Iphiclides podalirius*

Males engage in 'hilltopping,' flying to the highest points of hills to establish territories and await receptive females.

- **Taxonomy:** Animalia › Arthropoda › Insecta › Lepidoptera › Papilionidae › Iphiclides
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** stable
- **Biome:** grassland
- **Habitat:** Warm, dry grasslands, shrubby hillsides, orchards, and sunny woodland edges.
- **Diet:** Adults feed on nectar from wild privet, valerian, and thistles; caterpillars feed on blackthorn, hawthorn, and fruit tree leaves.
- **Range:** Europe, North Africa, Western Asia, China
- **Size:** Wingspan of 60 to 80 mm
- **Lifespan:** 1 to 4 weeks as an adult (up to 12 months total lifecycle including overwintering pupa)
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Agricultural intensification, pesticide use, and the clearing of wild hedgerows containing blackthorn host plants.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless. You can observe this butterfly from any close distance. Do not touch or grab its wings, as handling can rub off the delicate scales essential for its flight.

## About

The scarce swallowtail ( Iphiclides podalirius ) is a butterfly belonging to the family Papilionidae. It is also called the sail swallowtail or pear-tree swallowtail .

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/5ad6692b-25e5-495e-94b1-4a30ff58e793
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/62749
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarce_swallowtail
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/535854764/medium.jpg (Radu Teodoreanu, CC-BY, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.