Rural Perspectives: Black swallowtail butterflies found in fields, parks, gardens
by Diane Constable
The beautiful black swallowtail butterfly is a common visitor to wildflower gardens this time of year and is the state butterfly of Delaware.
Papilio polyxenes is its scientific name. Pailio is Latin for butterfly, and polyxenes comes from Greek mythology, as it was the name of the youngest daughter of Priamos, the king of Troy.
This butterfly is found east of the Rocky Mountains and prefers fields, parks and gardens. It has a wingspan of about 2.5-3.3 inches. The females are larger than the males.
The female will lay up to 400 eggs. These eggs are laid singly on new foliage, where they hatch in four to nine days. The caterpillar stage lasts 10 to 30 days, and the cocoon (pupal) stage is 18 days. The caterpillar starts out black and white, but as it gets older it will turn green with black stripes and yellow spots. These caterpillars like to eat plants in the carrot family, such as Queen Anne’s lace, dill and parsnip. It also likes prickly ash, magnolia, parsley, and fennel. These plants help protect caterpillars by making them taste bad. They also can release a bad smell to scare away predators.
The adult butterfly feeds on the nectar of dill, clover, coneflowers, blazing stars, lilacs, and zinnias—and in the process, pollinates the plants. Predators include birds, spiders, wasps, small rodents, frogs, and toads. The black swallowtail butterfly lives for about two to four weeks.
Fun Fact: The male black swallowtail butterflies congregate in specific gathering places to attract the females. They are very territorial and will fight off the other males, while the female chooses her mate from the group of males.
As an avid photographer, Diane Constable regularly puts her formal education in both nature and photography to good use. Diane also enjoys gardening and her dogs. She serves on the board of the Ann Arbor Dog Training Club and is editor of the club’s newsletter.
