Papilio polyxenes

Papilio polyxenes

Papilio polyxenes, also known by the English term "Black swallowtail" ( "Black swallowtail " ) is ( Papilionidae ) is a butterfly of the family of the swallowtail butterfly.

• 6.1 Notes and references
• 6.2 Literature

Features

Butterfly

The moths reach a wingspan of 70 to 90 millimeters. The forewings have a black ground color. In the Submarginalregion is from the apex to the inner edge a row of small yellow dots. Nearly an inch next runs another chain of yellow spots which direction the inner edge are constantly increasing. The hind wings are black and have the Submarginalregion a chain of yellow spots on sheets, which are slightly larger in comparison to the small points of the forewing. In the Diskalregion there is a number of other yellow spots, however, which are a little bigger. In Analwinkel is a yellow- red eye, which is in the center black. In addition, between the two rows of yellow spots, there are several bruises which direction the front edge are increasingly smaller. The toothed outer edge has a tail extension.

The bottom of the front wing has all the features of the upper surface at the same location. The veins occur here but more prominent since that is satin black. Bright spots are here but white instead of yellow. The larger forewing spots are towards the edge dyed increasingly orange. The underside of the rear wing has all the features of the upper surface at the same location. The large rear wing spots of the series are filled mostly orange, as well as the arc spots. However, here takes the orange portion in the direction of the inner edge.

In contrast to the males, all yellow or white dots in the rows are significantly smaller in females. However, the blue spots are larger.

The body of Papilio polyxenes is black and wears two yellow rows of dots on each side.

Egg, caterpillar and chrysalis

The eggs are laid singly on leaves. The caterpillars are green and carry several black stripes. On these horizontal stripes several yellow dots are arranged. The caterpillars feed exclusively on umbelliferous plants.

Subspecies

• Papilio polyxenes americus ( Kollar, 1849)
• Papilio polyxenes Asterius ( Stoll, 1782 )
• Papilio polyxenes coloro ( Wright, 1905)
• Papilio polyxenes gerardi ( bollino and Vitale, 2002)
• Papilio polyxenes sadalus (Lucas, 1892)
• Papilio polyxenes stabilis ( Rothschild and Karl Jordan, 1906)

Dissemination

Papilio polyxenes is based in large parts of North America and in northwestern South America. In the northernmost areas such as Alaska, he is not to be found. To the south, its range extends through Mexico to Peru.

Way of life

In northern regions Papilio polyxenes flies up to twice, in the southern up to three times. The flight times are during the months of April to October.