Tag Archives: birthwort

Population explosion

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The polydamas swallowtail caterpillar population has exploded in the garden. I watched the polydamas swallowtail lay eggs on my birthwort, which is now crawling with tons of caterpillars.

The polydamas swallowtail caterpillars feed in groups when they are small, devouring the youngest leaves, as well as flowers before moving onto the older portions of the plant.

The caterpillar will go through four instars, 19 to 24 days, before it’s ready to form its chrysalis. The colors of the caterpillars are a bit different during the first instar, with tan and small tubercles. Once the caterpillar molts into the second instar, they become dark brown with larger tubercles.

They have a black head, prothorax top is orange and short dark stripes. Once the caterpillars enter the third instar, the caterpillar becomes smoother with a glossy appearance.

The caterpillars grow up to 2.1″ in length

More Eggs

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The polydamas swallowtail has been a regular visitor these past few weeks. They are swift flyers, making them hard to capture in photographs while flying. Well, today, out of 143 photographs, I was able to pick out quite a few that made me smile.

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.

The polydamas lays yellow to orange eggs in clusters of 10 to 14, which can typically be spotted on newly developed stems, or growing tips, of the Dutchman pipe. The butterfly tends to lay its eggs on the Dutchman pipe that are in sunny areas, although the caterpillars have a higher survival rate in the shade.

The polydamas swallowtail in the photographs below is laying eggs on one of the two birthwort plants in the garden. Right now this plant is thick with lots of growth, while my three Dutchman pipe are needing time to grow back from the last set of caterpillars.

Explosion

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The polydamas swallowtail population has exploded in the garden! The caterpillars are on the move, crawling everywhere in my front garden. Some on the sidewalk, others on the driveway, or the house. All of them have gone into my new butterfly house where they can create their chrysalis.

Many of the caterpillars have been their chrysalis in the Dutchman pipe plant. Itsbeen fun finding them. They blend in perfectly!

The pipevine swallowtail

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The pipevine swallowtail is such an eye catching butterfly. Like many of the swallowtails you have to be extremely patient with a trigger happy finger to capture their beauty. I was fortunate enough to watch a male and female do their mating dance before eventually attaching to one another during a visit at The Butterfly Estates. The males have the irresistible blue coloring on the surface of their wings, while the female is mostly black with white along the outer edge of their wing. Their host plant is the birthwort.

A new adventure awaits

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I am beyond thrilled to begin raising the pipevine swallowtail from egg. I planted the birthwort, its host plant, in my garden almost two years ago and have never been able to attract this butterfly. It came to my attention earlier this week that the Butterfly Estates has an abundance of eggs after a conversation with the curator for an article I am writing. So, this morning, I made my way to Downtown Fort Myers. There were so many pipevine swallowtails flying around the 3,600 square foot glass butterfly conservatory. I even had the opportunity to take home the eggs that I witnessed the female pipevine swallowtail laying.

I cannot wait to learn more about this species whose wingspan range from 2 3/4 to 5 inches, as I watch them grow from egg to butterfly. I have both the male (blue hindwings) and female (black wings with spots) photographed below.