---
title: "Cometa gigante pálida"
description: "Heraclides thoas — Insectos y arañas. Papilio thoas, the king swallowtail or Thoas swallowtail, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/es/animal/thoas-swallowtail
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Cometa gigante pálida

> Heraclides thoas — Insectos y arañas. Papilio thoas, the king swallowtail or Thoas swallowtail, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae.

- Scientific name: *Heraclides thoas*
- Category: `insects` (Insectos y arañas)
- Habitats: unknown
- iNaturalist observations: 12924
- Wikidata: [Q118613794](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q118613794)
- iNaturalist taxon: [258082](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/258082)

## Names

- en: Thoas Swallowtail
- de: Königs-Schwalbenschwanz
- es: Cometa gigante pálida
- fr: Porte-queue Thoas

## Countries with the most observations

BR (3443), AR (1857), MX (1307), CR (1054), CO (829), PA (651), EC (334), TT (269), PE (212), GF (199), BO (179), HN (151)

## Summary

Papilio thoas, the king swallowtail or Thoas swallowtail, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. It is found in the southernmost United States, Mexico, Central America and South America (as far south as Argentina and Uruguay). The species is easily confused with the giant swallowtail, which it closely resembles in both larval and adult stages.  The caterpillars feed on the leaves of citrus plants (Rutaceae). They have also been reported as feeding on a member of the genus Piper.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papilio_thoas

## Photo

![Cometa gigante pálida](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/thoas-swallowtail/medium.jpg)

Photo: Diego Carús · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/39280829

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/thoas-swallowtail?lang=es` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).