''Papilio palamedes'', the Palamedes swallowtail or laurel swallowtail, is a North American

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

in the family

Papilionidae Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful Butterfly, butterflies in the family Papilionidae, and include over 550 species. Though the majority are tropical, members of the family inhabit every continent except Antarctica. The family includ ...

Description

The upperside of the wings is blackish brown with both wings having a yellow postmedian band and a yellow submarginal band.Jim P. Brock and Kenn Kaufman (2003). ''Butterflies of North America''. Houghton Mifflin, New York, NY. There is a yellow bar at the end of the forewing cell. The underside of the wings is black with the forewing having a yellow postmedian band and a yellow submarginal band. The hindwing has a few colored bands; the first being cream; the second, orange; the third, blue; and the fourth, orange.Rick Cech and Guy Tudor (2005). ''Butterflies of the East Coast''. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. There is a yellow streak on the inner margin of the hindwing which runs parallel to the body. The wingspan ranges from to inches (11 to 13 cm)."Palamedes Swallowtail

accessed on May 13, 2009 Jordan, K., in Seitz, A. ( 1907) . The Macrolepidoptera of the World. 5: The Macrolepidoptera of the American faunistic region. Papilionidae 1-45

Habitat

This species may be found in habitats such as cypress swamplands, coastal swamplands, wet riparian forests, bay forests, and savannas in the southeastern United States and northeastern Mexico.James A. Scott (1986). ''The Butterflies of North America''. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA.

Flight

The Palamedes swallowtail is encountered from May to October in southeastern

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

and from March to December in more southern regions. In Mexico it is represented by subspecies ''P. p. leontis'' Rothschild & Jordan, 1906.

Life cycle

Males seek females by patrolling near forest edges and forest openings. In courtship, the male and female will fly about a foot apart, slowly flying together in unison. The male will then fly above and behind the female to disperse his

pheromones A pheromone () is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. Pheromones are chemicals capable of acting like hormones outside the body of the secreting individual, to affect the behavi ...

and he will continue to do this until the female decides to mate with him. Females lay their pale greenish-yellow

eggs An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo begins to develop. Egg, EGG or eggs may also refer to: Biology * Egg cell, the female reproductive cell (gamete) in oogamous organisms Food * Eggs as food Places * Egg, Austria * Egg, Switzerland ...

singly on host plant leaves. The

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

is green with two false eyespots on the

thorax The thorax (: thoraces or thoraxes) or chest is a part of the anatomy of mammals and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main di ...

. It has a few blue spots on the first

abdominal The abdomen (colloquially called the gut, belly, tummy, midriff, tucky, or stomach) is the front part of the torso between the thorax (chest) and pelvis in humans and in other vertebrates. The area occupied by the abdomen is called the abdominal ...

segment to the eighth segment. It also lives in a leaf shelter.Thomas J. Allen, Jim P. Brock, Jeffrey Glassberg (2005). ''Caterpillars in the Field and Garden''. Oxford University Press, New York, NY. David L. Wagner (2005). ''Caterpillars of Eastern North America''. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. The larva is almost identical to the

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

of the spicebush swallowtail (''

Papilio troilus ''Papilio troilus'', the spicebush swallowtail or green-clouded butterfly, is a common black swallowtail butterfly found in North America."Simply Butterflies," Accessed March 17, 2011, http://www.simplybutterflies.com/Backyard_Butterflies.html ...

'', except the spicebush swallowtail larva has larger false eyes, larger blue spots, and different host plant preferences.) However, in the coastal Southeast, a subspecies of the spicebush swallowtail ''P. t. ilioneus'' shares the redbay (''

Persea borbonia ''Tamala borbonia'' or redbay is a small, evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae), native to the southeastern United States. It belongs to the genus '' Tamala'', which contains three species of evergreen trees native to the southern Unite ...

'') as a host plant. The green

chrysalis A pupa (; : pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages the ...

has a whitish lateral stripe edged with brown above and has two horns on the head. The chrysalis hibernates. The Palamedes swallowtail has two or three

brood Brood may refer to: Nature * Brood, a collective term for offspring * Brooding, the incubation of bird eggs by their parents * Bee brood, the young of a beehive * Individual broods of North American periodical cicadas: ** Brood X, the largest br ...

s per year.

Host plants

* Redbay, ''

'' * Swampbay, ''

Persea palustris ''Persea palustris'', also known as swamp bay or swampbay, is a small tree or shrub found throughout the Southeastern United States and the Bahamas, with much of its range overlapping with that of its relative '' Persea borbonia''. It is generally ...

'' * White sassafras, ''

Sassafras albidum ''Sassafras albidum'' (sassafras, white sassafras, red sassafras, or silky sassafras) is a species of ''Sassafras'' native to eastern North America, from southern Maine and southern Ontario west to Iowa, and south to central Florida and eastern ...

References

External links

Palamedes swallowtail
on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
Butterflycorner
Images from

Naturhistorisches Museum Wien The Natural History Museum Vienna () is a large natural history museum located in Vienna, Austria. The NHM Vienna is one of the largest museums and non-university research institutions in Austria and an important center of excellence for all matt ...

{{Taxonbar, from=Q148301 Butterflies of North America palamedes Butterflies described in 1773 Taxa named by Dru Drury Lepidoptera of Mexico Lepidoptera of the United States