Mocker Swallowtail

Papilio dardanus · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Papilionidae

Also called: Flying Handkerchief

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Mocker Swallowtail
Photo: Dave Rogers, CC BY

The Mocker Swallowtail is found across Sub-Saharan Africa (habitat and native range). Males look fairly uniform, while females occur in at least 14 different colour morphs. Within its group the wing patterns are dominated by black with small colour splotches.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Males are more or less uniform across the range; females have at least 14 distinct morphs. Patterns in the cenea group are mainly black with small coloured spots.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

E. B. Poulton called it the most interesting butterfly in the world.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

It is broadly distributed throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Its native range covers Sub-Saharan Africa.

Source: Wikipedia

More photos

Mocker Swallowtail photo 3
Photo: Dave Rogers, CC BY

Same family (Papilionidae)

Eastern Tiger SwallowtailEastern Tiger SwallowtailPapilio glaucusBlack SwallowtailBlack SwallowtailPapilio polyxenesPipevine SwallowtailPipevine SwallowtailBattus philenorOld World SwallowtailOld World SwallowtailPapilio machaonSpicebush SwallowtailSpicebush SwallowtailPapilio troilusEastern Giant SwallowtailEastern Giant SwallowtailHeraclides cresphontesDamages trees, gardens or crops

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papilio_dardanus

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.

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