Family Papilionidae (the swallowtails)

Polydamas swallowtail

Battus polydamas

This tailless swallowtail has apparently not been confirmed from the Georgia Piedmont. In Butterflies of Georgia by Lucian Harris (1971, page 159), the only report of this species from the state is that "Dr. James C. Brooks made the following observation for the Macon Area, 'Up until 1962 only three have been seen in Bibb County, all worn and flown. on June 12, 1962 a fresh female was taken in our yard in Macon.'"

Bibb County and Macon straddle the Fall Line, the lower boundary for the Georgia Piedmont and the upper for the Coastal Plain. As this species is known rarely to stray northward well beyond its usual range, it is reasonable to think that an occasional one makes it across the edge of the Georgia Piedmont, most of the time unnoticed. Given a seeming dearth of recent records from even the Coastal Plain of Georgia, however, the Polydamas swallowtail is not currently regarded as one of the Butterflies of Georgia's Piedmont Region.