Eastern Black Swallow Tail Butterflies

Like the Monarchs, these Swallow tails, fortunatly for us come back to where they were born the previous year. These just happen to be the ones that come to our garden. We plant a lot of dill and parsely in anticipation for their arrival. They begin as eggs that area pale yelllow color. The young larvae are mostly black and white with a saddle and older larvae are green with black transverse bands containing yellow spots. Once this caterpillar makes it to this point they begin to absorb toxins from the host plants, and therefore tastes poor to bird predators. The black swallowtail caterpillar has an orange "forked gland" that, when in danger, will flicker out much like a snakes tongue and releases a foul smell to the repel predators. The pupae may be green or brown, but not depending on the surroundings or the background on which they have pupated The color of the chrysalis is determined by a local genetic balalance that ensures the majority of pupae will blend in. A section of the green pupae will turn a much darker green at the very end of this stage. The usual time frame: Females lay eggs on host plants. Time to hatch is from 4 to 9 days. Next, the larval stage lasts 10-30 days. And, finally, the puupai stage lasts 18 days. The duration of these stages may vary depending on the temperature and the species of the host plants.