A Maltese subspecies of the swallowtail butterfly.
The swallowtail (Papilio machaon) is a large butterfly that lives across much of the northern hemisphere, from Europe to Japan and across North America. The Maltese Islands are home to a subspecies of their own, melitensis.
Some databases do not list melitensis as a separate subspecies, so its exact status is still being checked.
Text: Wikipedia, licence CC BY-SA 4.0. Edited by the Editorial Team.
Photo: Tranceliner, CC BY-SA 4.0.
