Pipevine Swallowtail (Larva)

Description:

Wingspan 70-130 mm. Iridescent blue/black pattern on upper surface is distinctive when fresh. Can be confused with other members of its mimicry complex--see comments below. The Pipevine flutters its wings incessantly while nectaring--I suspect this is part of its mechanisms for advertising distastefulness. (This is original speculation by the author--PC.) Some others in its complex, notably the Black Swallowtail, seem to do this too. Male has very iridescent upper surfaces of hindwings. Female has less striking iridescence. Underside has a single median row of orange spots which do not touch each other. Caterpillar is quite distinctive, may be a mimic of the tropical onychophorans, called velvet worms. Dark brownish black (occasionally smoky red) with soft fleshy tentacle-like projections, usually red-orange dorsal warts over abdomen. Tentacles on T1 twice as long as those on following segments. Life Cycle: Two or three flights per year in North Carolina. Flies all year in tropical Mexico. Overwinters as chrysalis in temperate areas. In North Carolina, P. Coin has noticed two colors of chrysalises produced in mid-summer. One was green, and an adult emerged from these in about two weeks. Several others were dark brown. One overwintered, (chrysalis formed May 30, 2004) emerging on May 10, 2005, almost one year later.

Habitat:

Range: Southern United States, to southern Mexico. In eastern US, old fields, etc. near woodlands with hostplant. Season: Mid-summer in eastern United States. Does not fly as late into fall as other swallowtails. Caterpillars present from June into fall in temperate areas. Food: Larvae feed on Aristolochia species. These include "Pipevine" or "Dutchman's Pipe", Aristolochia species (tomentosa, durior, reticulata, californica), as well as Virginia Snakeroot, Aristolochia serpentaria. Larvae presumably take up toxic secondary compounds (including Aristolochic acid) from their hostplant. Both larvae and adults are believed toxic to vertebrate predators, and both have aposematic (warning) coloration. Adults nectar on a variety of flowers, including asteraceae. Males take fluids from damp sand.

Notes:

Found on a nature walk. It was near the Red Ant bed and running in a frenzy. I eventualy got it up with a stick to slow it down. It wasn't running from the ants though, I think that it was running to them.