The polydamas swallowtail has been my greatest challenge photographing in the garden. I am happy to say she slowed down long enough to lay eggs, giving me time to click numerous photographs documenting the process. Thankfully a few turned out, capturing this beauty laying her cluster of eggs.

They lay eggs in clusters and there are many on the new growth of our Dutchman pipe. I am constantly seeking new knowledge about the life cycle of the butterflies that are visiting our garden.

The eggs that a butterfly lays has an outer shell called chorion, which, the “Florida Butterfly Gardening,” book said “is secreted by the follicle cells in the ovarioles.” When laid on the host plant, it goes through two short appendages, which are at the tip of the abdomen, and is glued to the leaf in which it is laid. I have only seen this butterfly lay its eggs on the top of new leaves, or new vines. The butterfly below also laid two eggs on wire. The baby caterpillars are going to have to search for food when born.

Did you know that a female butterfly has eight ovarioles, enabling some species to lay hundreds of eggs in just a few hours? Wow. The “Florida Butterfly Gardening” book shared that only one egg goes from the ovarioles into the oviduct, a larger tube. The egg, which travels through the oviduct, is fertilized by sperm, which is stored in what is called the spermatheca. When the egg goes through an opening in the accessory gland, glue and nutrients are applied to the shell’s outer surface.