Tag Archives: Polydamas butterfly

Still beautiful

Posted on by
Reply

A polydamas swallowtail butterfly found refuge in the garden this morning. I found it on the ground, battered wings expanded, so I let it crawl on my finger and brought it to a nectar plant, the red penta. As soon as it crawled on my finger its proboscis was extended waiting to get to that sweet goodness. Before all of its feet were on the penta it was already sipping away with its wings flapping extremely fast.

This morning we had three very eager polydamas swallowtail butterflies emerge in our butterfly house. They were not interested in any photographs, but boy were they beautiful.

There will soon be many more polydamas swallowtails in the garden, as more caterpillars are growing and getting closer to their ideal length. These caterpillars are chomping away on the Aristolochia trilobata in the front garden. The first time I have had caterpillars on this plant since I planted it more than two years ago. The Dutchman’s pipe in the back garden is constantly crawling with polydamas caterpillars.

For more information, visit https://sweetbutterflybliss.com/polydamas-swallowtail-butterfly

The gorgeous polydamas swallowtail

Posted on by
2

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.

Polydamas Swallowtail

She has returned

Posted on by
Reply

For the first time since Hurricane Ian struck our area in September, the polydamas swallowtail has returned to the garden. She first caught my attention while I was in the kitchen, lulling me outside. There is something striking about a black butterfly with yellow markings on the bottom of the wing.

I tried to capture a photograph of her while she landed on my Dutchman pipe, but her wings never slowed down enough, staying in place long enough to capture her beauty. I was excited to see she left a few treasures behind on her host plant, the Dutchman pipe, which is flowering for the second time since I bought the plant more than two years ago.

Swallowtail is back

Posted on by
2

All three Dutchman pipe plants have grown back, attracting the polydamas swallowtails to the garden again. The females have been busy laying eggs.

https://videos.files.wordpress.com/f34aK4qB/20220731_104740.mp4

Another tailless swallowtail

Posted on by
2

This afternoon we had number 17 polydamas swallowtail emerge in our butterfly house. It was super eager to be let go . . . did not hang around for a photograph on my finger as many other species do. Their wings flutter so fast, giving me quite a challenge to capture its beauty.

I love the photograph below, as another polydamas chrysalis is in the background. They are easiest to photograph, at least through my experience, shortly after they hatch.

With many other species the female is larger in size. The wingspan for this species is 9.2 to 11.6 centimeters. The coloration is very different from the underside of the wings, as shown below, to that of when the wings are completely open. The black and yellow is very pretty, as well as the splash of red on the underside.