A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Papilio cresphontes
Large black and yellow butterfly. Its tail is edged in black and has a yellow center. It also has some orange an blue markings. It is one of the largest butterflies in North America with a wingspan reaching up to 4-6 1/4 inches. Ref: https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/spec...
Habitat: woodlands, deciduous forests, rocky/sandy hillsides, near streams, citrus groves, and urban areas. Diet: Adults feed from a variety of sources including lantana, azalea, Japanese honeysuckle, and swamp milkweed.
We saw this guy feeding from a lantana plant in our school garden. It stayed for quite awhile. Fun Facts: 1. Females lay single eggs on host plants (citrus trees/herbs) . 2. The larva of this species is referred to as orange dog or orange puppy. 3. The larva can emit a foul odor as a defense mechanism. Ref: https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/spec...
Spotted on Oct 8, 2019
Submitted on Nov 15, 2019
1 Comment
Nice Dawn. Hard to get them to open their wings isn't it :-) Thanks for sharing.Beautiful.