Swallowtail butterfly black swallowtail is the state butterfly of Oklahoma. Swallowtail butterfly Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies in the family Papilionidae, and include over 550 species. Though the majority are tropical, members of the family inhabit every continent except Antarctica. The family includes the largest butterflies in the world, the birdwing butterflies of the genus "Ornithoptera". Swallowtails have a number of distinctive features; for example, the papilionid caterpillar bears a repugnatorial organ called the osmeterium on its prothorax. The osmeterium normally remains hidden, but when threatened, the larva turns it outward through a transverse dorsal groove by inflating it with fluid.
Polygonia comma form of comma is frequently confused with the dark form of the question mark ("P. interrogationis"), but the two can readily be distinguished by the shape of the comma mark on the underside. The pale form is easily confused with the satyr comma ("P. satyrus"), which usually occurs north and west of the eastern comma's range. They can be distinguished by the upperside color, which is orange brown in the comma and tawny yellowish brown in "P. satyrus"; by the underside pattern, which tends to be mottled in the comma but appears to be more longitudinally streaked in "P. satyrus";