Papilio ornythion
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
Papilio ornythion, the ornythion swallowtail, is a swallowtail butterfly of the subfamily Papilioninae. It is found in Mexico and Guatemala. It is occasionally recorded from central and southern Texas and New Mexico and rarely from southern Arizona and Kansas.
The wingspan is 83–115 millimetres (3.3–4.5 in). On the obverse the wings are black, with a pale yellow band crossed by black veins and bear a few pale yellow spots above the cell and in the submarginal part. The hindwings bear a pale yellow stripe in the extension of that of the forewings, a series of submarginal pale yellow macules and an orange lunule surmounted by an iridescent blue lunule in the anal angle. They are extended with black tails. On the reverse, the wings are predominantly pale yellow. The fore wings are similarly patterned but the black parts are striped with yellow, the hind wings are pale yellow edged with black and have a row of orange lunules edged with black in the middle part.
The female has two forms, a form identical to the male and a dark form. In the latter, the median band of the forewings and hindwings is absent on the obverse, while the reverse is predominantly black, with submarginal pale yellow macules on the hindwings in addition to the median orange lunules.
The body is pale yellow and black above. It is darker in the dark form. Adults are on wing from April to September. There are probably two generations per year. The larvae feed on the leaves of Citrus trees. Adults feed on flower nectar. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cumbres de Monterrey National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monterrey | 🇲🇽 México |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Ornythion Swallowtail sighting in Cumbres de Monterrey National Park on a given day, based on 41 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 79th most-seen of the 431 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report an Ornythion Swallowtail in Cumbres de Monterrey National Park on a given day, against under 5% in December to March, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Ornythion Swallowtail sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Cumbres de Monterrey National Park, in our data
Cumbres de Monterrey National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Ornythion Swallowtail sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Papilio
The closest relatives of the Ornythion Swallowtail that you can see in Cumbres de Monterrey National Park (genus Papilio, Common Swallowtails) are Western Giant Swallowtail (about 20%), Palamedes Swallowtail (about 20%) and Three-Tailed Tiger Swallowtail (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Ornythion Swallowtail is recorded against all the insects logged in Cumbres de Monterrey National Park (41 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
