The swallowtail butterflies are absolutely stunning. It’s always fascinating for me to see the transformation from a caterpillar to a chrysalis to a butterfly.
The polydamas swallowtail caterpillars are viscous eaters who take a long time to reach their desired size. I always know when I have caterpillars chowing down on the Dutchman pipe because more than half of the leaves fall to the ground as they find the perfect spot to eat.
This morning the first of more than 20 emerged in our butterfly house. This beauty stuck with me for a while before it crawled on the porterweed to hang out a little longer.
This marks 26 that we have successfully raised and released.
The polydamas, also known as the gold rim swallowtail, tailless swallowtail and scientific name Battus polydamas lucayus, lays its eggs on the Dutchman pipe. This is the only swallowtail that lacks the tails at the base of the secondary wings, according to the University of Florida.
This species can be found throughout peninsular Florida, as well as in the Florida Keys. There are some that wander as far north as Missouri and Kentucky.
For more information, check out the link below, which includes quite a few photographs.
While I was walking from the living room to the kitchen, I glanced out the back window and spotted a polydamas, gold rim, swallowtail butterfly circling the Dutchman Pipe. I quickly grabbed my camera and headed to the garden. I watched, took photos and filmed this female lay at least a dozen eggs.
She was so focused on her task at hand that she did not mind me taking more than a 100 photos.
The eggs she laid are approximately 1 mm in diameter and are partially covered by a nutritious secretion hard shell, which have vertical bands with large droplets. This secretion is produced by a gland that is above the female’s ovipository duct.
As the eggs mature and the larvae develop, they will turn a slight greenish color, approximately four to six days later.
When the caterpillars hatch, their first meal will be consuming the residual embryonic yolk, as well as the secretion on the outside of the egg.
The caterpillars will eat for about 19 to 24 days, with early instars molting, shedding old skin, about every four days.
My beautiful, lush Dutchman pipe has been chewed down to almost nothing as the polydamus swallowtail caterpillars continue to go through all their instars. There were quite a few that were brought into our butterfly house, with many finally finishing up its caterpillar stage, getting rid of the last of its waste, creating its silken girdle and creating its either green, or brown chrysalis.
The caterpillar getting rid of the remains it does not need for its next stage, the chrysalis.
We have six that have made its silken girdle, getting ready to finish off its chrysalis. There are two very close to each other with a monarch caterpillar hiding in the below photo. We had quite a few caterpillars decide to make its chrysalis on a milkweed. I guess the plant will be staying in the butterfly house for a good two weeks.
So far we have three chrysalis as of this morning from this batch of caterpillars. There are eight caterpillars still either eating or finding their destination to start their chrysalis. The polydamas are certainly taking over our butterfly house right now.
This morning I spent an hour in the garden walking around and enjoying the view. I spotted five different species, polydamas swallowtail, monarch, gulf fritillary, dainty sulphur and a tropical checkered skipper. Too bad they all did not want their photograph taken this morning! They are all enjoying the warm weather and blue sky, a perfect day for laying eggs and sipping some nectar.
The gulf fritillary made multiple stops at our blue porterweed, definitely one of this species favorite.
gulf fritillary
One monarch was basking in the sun in the back garden near our tomatoes, while another touched down on a half a dozen milkweed plants laying eggs in the front garden. Good thing my milkweed are becoming bushy right now, as they will be covered in baby caterpillars soon.
The North America’s monarch is truly a special butterfly. I am so glad we live in Southwest Florida where we see the monarch fluttering in, around and out of our garden year round.
According to the U.S. Forest Service these butterfly use such environmental cues as air currents and thermals for their annual migration, as they cannot survive the cold winters. I cannot believe some travel as far as 3,000 miles for their winter destination, an average of 50 to 100 miles a day, which can take up to two months to complete their journey, the U.S. Forest Service stated. The monarch butterfly weighs less than a gram.
There are a few different destinations, according to the U.S. Forest Service, with those monarchs in Eastern North America traveling to the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico, and the Western North America (west of the Rocky Mountains) monarchs travel to California.
Their travel happens only during the day, as they roost at night in such areas as pine, fir and cedar trees, due to its thick canopies that provide the right warm temperature. They will also roost on peninsulas, finding the shortest distance across the water. The U.S. Forest Service said the monarchs gather along the shore waiting for a gentle breeze to help them along.
The US. Forest Service said as the days lengthen and become warmer while traveling north, those migratory butterflies will start breeding and laying eggs for a new generation. The monarchs that headed south are one generation, according to the U.S. Forest Service, but those that head north have successive generations.
Again, the U.S. Forest Service said that the first generation of monarchs are those offspring that spend their winter in Mexico. Each successive generation travel farther north with it taking three to four generations to reach Canada and the northern United States.
We are continuing to do our part in helping the monarch population thrive with No. 152 hatching today in our butterfly house, and a caterpillar finalizing its chrysalis.
We had another successful polydamas, gold rim, swallowtail, hatch in our butterfly house this morning. Number 16. We have two more chrysalis in the butterfly house and about eight caterpillars of this species and TONS more in our garden.
Their wing span ranges from 9.2 to 11.6 c.m. and the female is larger than the male. Fun fact from the University of Florida: the male has scent scales hidden on the upper surface of the hind wing in folds.
A true beauty.
Check out: https://bit.ly/3zcSDO6, for additional information about the life cycle of the polydamus swallowtail.
