Pipevine swallowtail
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| Battus philenor (Linnaeus, 1771). |
The Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly (Battus philenor)[1] [2] is a swallowtail butterfly which is found in North and Central America.
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[edit] Range
The butterfly ranges from southern Canada southwards across USA to Mexico, Tres Marias islands and onto Guatemala and Costa Rica.[3] [2]
In the United States, the butterfly is found in New England down to Florida, from Southern Ontario (Canada) to Nebraska, Texas, Arizona, California, Oregon and New Mexico.[2]
[edit] Description
- For a key to the terms used see Lepidopteran glossary
The upper surface of the hind wings of the male butterfly has an iridescent metallic blue sheen. The hindwings also have a series of pale, arrow-head markings above and a single row of seven round orange spots, which never touch, set in an iridescent blue field below.
The forewings are dull blackish-brown.[3]
[edit] Life cycle
After mating, females lay batches of eggs on the underside of the leaves of a host plant. The caterpillars feed in small groups when young, but become solitary when older. Chrysalis overwinters.
[edit] Caterpillar
The caterpillar of the Pipevine swallowtail is reddish-brown. It has rows of fleshy, red or black coloured tubercles on its back.[3]
[edit] Host plants
Host plants for the caterpillars include the Pipevine (Aristolochia species), including A. californica, A. serpentaria and others. Pipevines confer a poisonous quality to the larvae and resulting adults, much as the monarch butterfly obtains protection by feeding on milkweed, or heliconiines by feeding on passion flowers.
[edit] Nectar resources
Adults seek nectar from flowers, including thistles (Cirsium species), bergamot, lilac, viper's bugloss, common azaleas, phlox, teasel, azaleas, dame's rocket, lantana, petunias, verbenas, lupines, yellow star thistle, buckeye, and butterfly bush.
[edit] Mimicry
It is mimicked by the dark-morph Eastern Tiger Swallowtail females which are palatable to predators. This morph is most often found where the two species' ranges overlap. It is also mimicked by the sympatric subspecies of Limenitis arthemis, the Red-spotted Purples.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Card for philenor in LepIndex. Accessed 07 Jul 2007.
- ^ a b c Marrku Savela's Website on Lepidoptera on Battus genus.
- ^ a b c Carter, David - Butterflies and Moths, (Dorling Kindersley Handbooks) pg 55
[edit] External links
- Pipevine Swallowtail, Butterflies of North Carolina
- Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly: Reference large format photographs Cirrus Digital Imaging
- Pipevine Swallowtail, Butterflies and Moths of North America
- Pipevine Swallowtail at Animal Diversity Web
[edit] References
- Carter, David. (2000) Butterflies and Moths, (Dorling Kindersley Handbooks) (2/ed) Dorling Kindersley, London. Template:ISBN:0 7513 2707 7
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Beccaloni, G. W., Scoble, M. J., Robinson, G. S. & Pitkin, B. (Editors). 2003. The Global Lepidoptera Names Index (LepIndex). World Wide Web electronic publication. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/lepindex.
- Marrku Savela's Website on Lepidoptera [1].
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