I’m ever amazed at the wonders of nature, which certainly include the life cycles of butterflies and I thoroughly enjoyed observing this one. After a couple of hours, it’s wings were hardened, it took flight and was gone. Two weeks later it emerged from its chrysalis at the left of this image and became a mature buttefly. The meaning of ZEBRA SWALLOWTAIL is a very large swallowtail butterfly (Papilio marcellus) of eastern North America which has greenish white or yellowish. Zebra swallowtail butterfly and chrysalis The zebra swallowtail is one of our most beautiful. Dorsally, the hindwing has 2 blue spots at the base and a red spot closer to the body. Zebra Swallowtail, (Eurytides marcellus) is our only native kite swallowtail tribe Leptocircini. It is striped black and white with very long black and white tails. Their only host plant is the pawpaw and the ones we’re seeing most likely spent the caterpillar stage of their life in our pawpaw patch. Zebra Swallowtail Eurytides marcellus SWALLOWTAIL FAMILY (Papilionidae) Description This elegant swallowtail has a wingspan of approximately 3 inches. One week later it was about one inch long, and it then made this chrysalis. We have several zebra swallowtails flitting around our place right now. At this stage it is about one-half inch long and feeding on paw-paw leaves, the only leaves it will eat. This is the zebra swallowtail caterpillar, which my friend, Connie brought to me. This photograph is special to me, because the butterfly is one I raised, and it was made shortly after the butterfly emerged from its chrysalis. And I have seen it in our Lexington, Kentucky, backyard twice in the last two years. I’ve often seen this butterfly while hiking woodland streams and watching for spring wildflowers. While stalking some wasps on a sunny afternoon after summer camp duty, a stunning butterfly zoomed by, quivering as it foraged on a couple of species of mountain mint ( Pycnanthemum sp.) in the roadside Piedmont habitat.The Zebra swallowtail is one of my favorite butterflies. Its distinctive wing shape and long tails make it easy to identify, and its black-and-white-striped.
I am working on a photo collection of the pollinators of the NC Botanical Garden and am trying to get out once a day for at least a few minutes to document the amazing abundance of species visiting our wildflowers. Protographium marcellus, the zebra swallowtail, (formerly listed under genera Eurytides, Iphiclides, Graphium and Papilio by some authorities) is a swallowtail butterfly native to the eastern United States and southeast Canada. Zebra Swallowtail butterfly eggs are lime green and laid on the underside of PawPaw tree leaves to hide them predators. Last week was a particularly good one for spying these flitting beauties.
I have them occasionally at home (we have several pawpaw trees on our property) and have seen them frequently this summer at work. The most I have ever seen were down at Pettigrew State Park and Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, where pawpaw is the dominant tree in the understory. These arthropods are native to parts of the United States and Canada. They are almost never found far from their host plants, pawpaw. The Zebra Swallowtail is a species of brightly-colored butterflies that got their name from their zebra-like looks, with alternating patterns of black and white markings on their four wings. Their bold pattern of black and white stripes, long tails, and the bright red spots near the base of their hind wings never fail to delight me when I spy one flitting through the summer air. Zebra swallowtails ( Eurytides marcellus) are surely one of North Carolina’s most beautiful butterflies. 3 The inner margin of the hindwing has two blue spots on the corner and a red spot near the body.
A pair of swordlike tails extend from the hindwings. 4 The triangular wings are white to greenish white with black longitudinal stripes. The larva is green with yellow and black bands. The zebra swallowtail has a wingspan of 6.4 to 10.4 cm (2.5 to 4.1 in). The projection from the rear edge of the hindwing, the tail, is fairly long. Its wings are pale green-white with black stripes. This species has the most pronounced tail of all North American swallowtails. FEATURES The zebra swallowtail has a wingspan of about two and one-half to four inches. Zebra swallowtail butterfly on mountain mint (click photos to enlarge) Zebra Swallowtail (LEP6) Eurytides marcellus.
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