---
title: "Western Tiger Swallowtail"
description: "Papilio rutulus — Owady i pająki. Papilio rutulus, the western tiger swallowtail, is a swallowtail butterfly belonging to the Papilionidae family."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/pl/animal/western-tiger-swallowtail
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Western Tiger Swallowtail

> Papilio rutulus — Owady i pająki. Papilio rutulus, the western tiger swallowtail, is a swallowtail butterfly belonging to the Papilionidae family.

- Scientific name: *Papilio rutulus*
- Category: `insects` (Owady i pająki)
- Habitats: unknown
- iNaturalist observations: 35905
- Wikidata: [Q309617](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q309617)
- iNaturalist taxon: [47226](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47226)

## Names

- en: Western Tiger Swallowtail
- de: Westlicher Tigerschwalbenschwanz
- es: Mariposa cometa tigre de Baja California
- fr: Papillon tigré de l'Ouest

## Countries with the most observations

US (27780), CA (5601), MX (76)

## Summary

Papilio rutulus, the western tiger swallowtail, is a swallowtail butterfly belonging to the Papilionidae family. The species was first described by Hippolyte Lucas in 1852.
Like the other tiger swallowtails, the western tiger swallowtail was formerly classified in genus Pterourus, but modern classifications all agree in placing them within Papilio.

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

## Photo

![Western Tiger Swallowtail](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/western-tiger-swallowtail/medium.jpg)

Photo: Thomas Vincent · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/216732946

## Machine access

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