Eastern Black Swallowtail
One of my many hobbies is raising butterflies so when my 3rd instar caterpillar shed its skin my curiosity got the better of me. Eastern Black swallowtails hatch from tiny yellow eggs. The eggs are often on the front or back of the host plant. They eat parsley, Queen Anne's Lace,cilantro,fennel and dill. It takes about 2 weeks for them to enclose and another 2 weeks to actually be able to fly. This can take up to 18 months however. Males are black and yellow and females are black and blue. The males also have claspers that they use to hold onto the female during mating. They have a special organ called an osmeterium to scare predators. They also produce poison to kill birds that try to eat them.
One of my many hobbies is raising butterflies so when my 3rd instar caterpillar shed its skin my curiosity got the better of me. Eastern Black swallowtails hatch from tiny yellow eggs. The eggs are often on the front or back of the host plant. They eat parsley, Queen Anne's Lace,cilantro,fennel and dill. It takes about 2 weeks for them to enclose and another 2 weeks to actually be able to fly. This can take up to 18 months however. Males are black and yellow and females are black and blue. The males also have claspers that they use to hold onto the female during mating. They have a special organ called an osmeterium to scare predators. They also produce poison to kill birds that try to eat them.
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