Pipevine Swallowtail

Description:

A large butterfly with blue and black wings. These butterflies can be easily identified in their adult form by their blue hind wings with white spots on top and 7 orange spots underneath. Strikingly beautiful in real life, these photos do a poor job of capturing this creature.

Habitat:

These butterflies like open woodlands and fields and are found across much of the southern half of the United States. These butterflies only eat nectar from flowers - this one was drinking from a purple passionflower.

Notes:

Found at the Joseph W. Jones Research Center