Two-tailed Tiger Swallowtail

Description:

This very beautiful female emerged on December 17th 2015 after 5 months in pupation inside the house. I actually think she emerged too early because of the warmer winter this year and from being inside the house. The Fresno trees the larva was found near do not flower until May. The final larval stage was found on 13 August 2015 wandering about on the lawn below a Fresno Tree in a rural garden. It pupated on the 17th of August. The larva was a reddish-brown in color with large yellow false eye spots on the thorax. In the 3rd picture you can see the orange Osmeterium. This is an organ that is found in all the Papilionidae and is normally inside the body. It is everted suddenly if the larva feels threatened. The osmeterium emits a foul chemical odor repellent to predators and also makes the larva look very snake-like with a false forked tongue along with the large false eyes on the thorax. To pupate, the larva attached to a stick by the anal pseudopods and built its silk restraining cord visible in the 5th picture. The larval skin was shed from beneath the silk cord, revealing the pupa which became brown and resembled a piece of dry bark.

Habitat:

Rural garden, San Cristobal de Las Casas, 2,200 meters.

Notes:

See this reference for the osmeterium of the Papillionidae: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmeterium.... Species of the genus Papilio belong to the heterogenous grouping in which the early stages of the larvae produce chemicals in the osmeterium which are different from the chemicals produced by the last larval instar. These chemicals are remarkably complex. This species has a large distribution from the United States through most of Mexico and Central America.