Special Encounters

South Carolina is home to 165 species of butterflies. I’ve had several species of these fluttering visitors to my yard over the past few months but one in particular was a special encounter. The Giant Swallowtail butterfly, Papilio cresphontes, is a widely distributed butterfly but is less common in the Southwest and California. The wingspan of these enormous butterflies can be as wide as six inches making them the largest butterfly in North America. The top side of the butterfly is mostly black with a yellow bar that stretches across the forewing and has a mostly yellow underwing with a black band and studded with light blue.

This swallowtail butterfly was intent on visiting with my Meyer Lemon tree, especially the tips of new growth. I left the butterfly to fulfill its curiosity and once she left I noticed that the butterfly had deposited little orange spherical eggs on these tips of growth and tender green leaves. The caterpillars will stay in the egg stage for 4-10 days. We now had Giant Swallowtail butterflies on the way!

Commonly called “orange dogs” the caterpillars are orange, black, white, and brown and as they grow they actually mimic bird poop. As unique as the bird poop mimicry is you would think that would be enough for a good defense, but surprisingly these little caterpillars also mimic a snake! As they grow, their triangular head has a snake like appearance and if feeling threatened the caterpillars flash a bright red osmeterium that resembles a forked tongue or antennae. The caterpillars stay in this larval stage for about 3-4 week before going into their chrysalis or pupal stage for 10-20 days.

When they are preparing to go into their pupal stage you will notice that the caterpillar’s color become muted and more gray in appearance. The chrysalis isn’t a beautiful jade with ornate gold markings as say a Monarch butterfly but the chrysalis has what looks like a “U” shaped strand that is very strong attaching it to the tree and the chrysalis blends well with the bark and limbs of the citrus tree. Once the pupal stage is complete the beautiful Giant Swallowtail emerges and lives for 6-14 days. The complete lifecycle of the butterfly can be about 60-75 days and multiple generations can be produced a year.

If you’re looking to lure some giants to your yard or maybe see one on your next adventure some host plants for the Giant Swallowtail butterflies include Hoptree, Prickly Ash, Common Rue, and a variety of citrus. You may also want to pant some of the swallowtail’s nectar sources such as milkweeds, azaleas, goldenrods, and bee balms.