Papilio zelicaon, the anise swallowtail, is a common swallowtail butterfly of western North America. Both the upper and lower sides of its wings are black, but the upper wing has a broad yellow stripe across it, giving the butterfly an overall yellow appearance. There are striking blue spots on the rear edge of the rear wing, and the characteristic tails of the swallowtails. Its wingspan is 52–80 mm (2.04-3.15 inches). Its body is somewhat shorter than the rather similar western tiger swallowtail, with which its range overlaps; it also lacks the black stripes, converging toward the tail, of the latter. There is a somewhat darker subspecies, P. z. nitra, which is rare throughout the range, though somewhat more often found at lower elevations.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Papilio zelicaon has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens358
BINs1
Marker genes2
eDNA detections356
Countries2
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P658 bp consensus44 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 100% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Where individuals differ — all 1 variable positions, in barcode order
Each circle is a barcode variant; bigger = more specimens, colour = region. Lines join the most similar variants and the tick marks count the mutations between them — a tight cluster is one “dialect”, a long line a more divergent lineage. Click a circle to list its actual specimens.
Diversity (π)0.48%
Haplotypes3
BIN1
Most divergent pair0.46%
N.America
Closest relatives by DNA barcode
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★COI-3P★COI-5P
animal barcode
06Genome at a glanceGoaT · NCBI
The complete instruction manualPapilio zelicaon carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Genome size≈352 935 561 bp assembly estimate
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
BACTERIUM Carsonella ruddii0.00016 Gb
FUNGUS0.04 Gb
INSECT0.25 Gb
THIS GENOME Papilio zelicaon0.35 Gb
HUMAN3.2 Gb
WHEAT17 Gb
FERN Tmesipteris160.45 Gb
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
Assembly levelContig
Completeness55.6% BUSCO
07Deep time~3.93 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin3.93 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type19 503 records
Wild obs. + sensor17 090
Museum / vouchered1 920
Other493
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO28 860 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy85% within 1 km
≤100 m 9 060≤1 km 2 842≤10 km 1 154>10 km 886
13 942 georeferenced · 3 148 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor17 090
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy28% within 1 km
≤100 m 65≤1 km 257≤10 km 609>10 km 224
1 155 georeferenced · 765 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence1 920
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions29 of 55 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
New Haven, US
533
University of Alberta Museums (UAM)location not on record
340
Colorado State Universitylocation not on record
145
Natural History Museum of Utahlocation not on record
139
San Diego, US
117
San Francisco, US
99
Vernal, US
70
Vancouver, CA
44
East Lansing, US
43
Denver, US
39
Washington, US
29
Georgia Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
27
St. Paul, US
27
Royal Saskatchewan Museumlocation not on record
26
Cambridge, US
26
WWUlocation not on record
22
University of California, Davislocation not on record
18
Natural History Museum Rotterdamlocation not on record
16
ASUlocation not on record
15
US
15
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
11
Santa Cruz, US
9
Cleveland Museum of Natural History, OH (CLEV)location not on record
9
München, DE
6
Toronto, CA
6
Essig Museum of Entomologylocation not on record
6
Provincia di Pesaro e Urbinolocation not on record
5
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
5
Zürich, CH
5
Edmonton, CA
5
Auckland, NZ
4
University of Central Floridalocation not on record
4
Chicago, US
4
University of Guelph, Centre for Biodiversity Genomicslocation not on record
3
Philadelphia, US
3
Mississippi State, US
3
Universidad Católica de Manizaleslocation not on record
3
Blacksburg, US
3
Decorah, US
2
KWPlocation not on record
2
Mexico City, MX
2
US
2
SOVTlocation not on record
2
Brussels, BE
2
RBINS-Scientific Heritagelocation not on record
2
King Saud Universitylocation not on record
2
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Sciencelocation not on record
2
CNClocation not on record
1
University of California, Davis, Bohart Museum of Entomologylocation not on record
1
National Institute of Biological Resourceslocation not on record
1
Awka, NG
1
Tapachula, MX
1
University of Nevada, Museum of Biologylocation not on record
1
Budapest, HU
1
Tartu, EE
1
55 institutions · 1 910 of 1 920 vouchered records shown · 10 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA356 detections
Where the DNA of Papilio zelicaon was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found356
Studies independent surveys1
Countries2
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median13.8 °C 11.5–20.1
Seasonal swing summer↔winter23.1 °C
Max temp (day)20.5 °C 16.5–24.2
Min temp (night)8.40 °C 5.40–14.6
Precipitation66.1 mm/mo 13.3–124
Air humidity53.2 % 50.8–62.9
Moisture balance-66.5 mm/mo -138–6.70
Vapour deficit734 Pa 576–916
Wind speed2.30 m/s 1.40–4.40
Cloud cover34.1 % 20.2–39.9
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 38 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation7 languages↗
Animal Diversity WebUniv. of Michigan MZspecies account↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility19 503 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI356 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics358 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗