Spicebush swallowtail

Description:

A large black butterfly with distinctive markings. Ranges in the eastern United States.

Habitat:

Spotted visiting thistle in a meadow along the Ouachita River.

Notes:

The host plants of the spicebush swallowtail are most commonly either spicebush (Lindera benzoin) or white sassafras (Sassafras albidum). Other possible host plants include prickly ash (Zanthoxylum), as well as tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), sweetbay (Magnolia virginiana), camphor (Cinnamomum camphora) and redbay (Persea borbonia). Redbay and swampbay (Persea palustris) are the primary host plants for members of the P. t. ilioneus strain, while spicebush and sassafras as the primary hosts for P. t. troilus.