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Giant Swallowtail larva

Papilio chresphontes

Description:

This caterpillar mimics bird droppings supposedly to discourage predation by birds!

Habitat:

School garden

Notes:

Found on citrus plant, it's larval host.

No species ID suggestions

7 Comments

Nice Update! By the way there is a Buddha Hand fruit picture put on tonight from CA

ceherzog
ceherzog a year ago

I just added photos of the change to chrysalis if anyone is interested.

ceherzog
ceherzog a year ago

I know...it's very weird looking but the butterfly is beautiful! It's all about survival.

this really looks so weird. i can hardly figure it out... nice !

ceherzog
ceherzog a year ago

It might be...I found 3 of these large ones on the Buddha's Hand citrus. Now if I can find the chrysalises in the next couple of days.

Claire, is this the one I took as a baby? How wonderful!

ReannaDee
ReannaDee a year ago

Cool pics! Caterpillars almost look alien in form.

Sarasota, Florida, USA

Lat: 27.12, Long: -82.44

Spotted on May 25, 2011
Submitted on May 25, 2011

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