Complete Guide To The Black Swallowtail Butterfly
Black Swallowtail Butterfly
Black Swallowtail Butterfly Images
Black Swallowtail Butterfly Papilio polyxenes. Photograph taken by the author. Copyright Now I Wonder.
Black Swallowtail Butterfly Papilio polyxenes. Photograph taken by the author. Copyright Now I Wonder.
Black Swallowtail Butterfly Papilio polyxenes. Photograph taken by the author. Copyright Now I Wonder.
Black Swallowtail Butterfly Papilio polyxenes. Photograph taken by the author. Copyright Now I Wonder.
Black Swallowtail Butterfly Papilio polyxenes. Photograph taken by the author. Copyright Now I Wonder.
How To Identify Black Swallowtail Butterflies
- Wingspan: 2.6 – 3.5 inches (6.6 – 8.9 cm)
- Above:
- Both male and female Black Swallowtails are black butterflies that have:
- Black wings with two yellow bands near the outer edge—one of delta-shaped marks, and one of small spots.
- A single orange spot on the center edge of each hind wing, centered with a black dot.
- Yellow-spotted black abdomens; no stripes.
- Females have more extensive blue scaling on hind wings than males.
- Both male and female Black Swallowtails are black butterflies that have:
- Below:
- Two bands of yellow-orange spots.
- Hind wing has a small, usually faint, orange spot between the band of larger spots and the hind wing base.
- Each hind wing has a long tail filled in with black.
Black Swallowtail Butterfly Papilio polyxenes labelled with field marks that identify the species. Photograph taken by the author. Copyright Now I Wonder.
How to Find Black Swallowtail Butterflies
- Flight Season: Adults fly between late March and late October in North Carolina.
- Look for them in open, sunny spaces with flowers, like meadows, roadsides, parks, orchards, and gardens.
- They seem especially fond of nectar from flowers in the Phlox family (Polemoniaceae), like:
- Annual Phlox (Phlox drummondii)
- Thickleaf Phlox (Phlox carolina)
- Both of these species are planted along roadsides in North Carolina (Bowers and Bowers 2022).
- They seem especially fond of nectar from flowers in the Phlox family (Polemoniaceae), like:
- Adults visit a wide variety of different flowers and fly low to the ground.
- Some gardeners consider the Black Swallowtail a pest species, as their caterpillars feed on plants in the Carrot family (Apiaceae), such as carrots, dill, fennel, and parsley.
Black Swallowtail Butterfly Classification
|
Phylum |
Arthropoda |
|
Class |
Insecta |
|
Order |
Lepidoptera |
|
Family |
Papilionidae (Swallowtail and Parnassian Butterflies) |
|
Genus |
Papilio |
|
Species |
P. polyxenes |
Binomial Name |
Papilio polyxenes |
