Collectors have found the red-bodied swallowtails difficult to kill.

[citation needed] The larvae resemble those of other Troidini.

Fleshy spine-like tubercles, often with red tips, line the caterpillars' backs, and their bodies are dark red to brown and velvety black or shades of grey with a pattern of black lines.

Chrysalids are camouflaged to look like a dead leaf or twig.

Many species of red-bodied swallowtails show aposematism,[1] and serve as models for Batesian mimicry.