The polydamas swallowtail butterflies continue to have a record year in our butterfly house. In 11 days, 81 have emerged, and that’s just in our butterfly house. I have found numerous empty chrysalis scattered throughout the garden.
Although the host plants are slowly growing back, the Dutchman pipe and birthwort, it is not stopping them from flying through the garden every day finding nectar sources.
Â
am in awe with this butterfly, the polydamas swallowtail. In eight days, I have had 50 butterflies emerge, 20 today alone. I still have more chrysalsis to emerge!
There is truly nothing more special than having a butterfly sit on your hand before it decides to fly away, or juat hangs out with yiu for a while. They are spectacular.
The polydamas, “gold rim” swallowtail butterflies have had a phenomenal year in the butterfly garden so far this year.
There were a few days I didn’t have an opportunity to walk through the garden and by the third day, wow. My birthwort plant is crawling with a couple dozen polydamas caterpillars feasting away on its host plant.
It’s fun to watch these guys grow. When they are smaller they stay together in a pack, but eventually spread out as they get bigger.
The polydamas swallowtail chrysalis, I think, is very unique. The color often times depends on where they create it, as they can either be green, or brown.
The first one is well hidden in my Bahama cassia tree, resembling the color of a leaf. The last few photos are residing in my butterfly house and are brown, similar to the color of the branch.
It will be interesting to see how long before the butterflies emerge. The last batch overwintered, which was fascinating because I live in Southwest Florida where the temps usually do not turn too extreme.
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