Scarce Swallowtail

Description:

The caterpillars spin little pads on leaves and grip them firmly. The newly hatched caterpillar is dark in colour with two smaller and two bigger greenish patches on the dorsal side, later they are greenish with yellowish dorsal and side stripes. The summer chrysalids are green as a rule, the hibernating ones are brown. A number of hibernating chrysalids fall prey to various enemies.

Habitat:

found in gardens, fields and open woodlands.

Notes:

In some years the Scarce Swallowtail is quite abundant. The Scarce Swallowtail is getting rarer as the blackthorn bushes are being cleared. The butterfly is now protected by law in Czech republic, Slovakia, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Russia and Poland. It is considered Rare-Endangered and protected in some provinces of Austria and of status Indeterminate throughout Europe. Though referred by some authorities to be of status "Vulnerable",