#papilio

[herpsandbirds]

Common or Indian Peacock (Papilio polyctor), family Papilionidae, HP, India

photograph by rajesh kumar

[kirstysdreams]

Ekaterina Feoktistova for Papilio; 📷

[kirstydreaming]

Ekaterina Feoktistova for Papilio; 📷

[razehider]

i've posted a lot of old world swallowtail (Papilio machaon) caterpillars without giving the adults a lot of attention because they're a pain in the ass to get close to so i'd like to give a shout out to the calmest one i've ever met. not at all a rare find but pretty rare circumstances. like if you found a cloud that you could just walk up to somehow

i even grabbed its plant for literally no reason other than to prove a point

(August 19th, 2024)

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

EEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(black swallowtail caterpillar, Papilio polyxenes)

[onenicebugperday]

@bunnabi submitted: hi!

found this cute little guy today on the street and I can't tell what kind of caterpillar it is :/ it was found in [removed] (please hide my location thank u!) I love your blog so much all the bugs are so very nice indeed :3

Hello! Thank you! This is an old world swallowtail butterfly, Papilio machaon. Adults look like this:

Photo by lioneska

[phytophiliac]

Hippeastrum papilio is native to southern Brazil. It is considered endangered in its native habitat but is popular in cultivation..

[faguscarolinensis]

Papilio polyxenes on Zizia aurea / Black Swallowtail on Golden Alexanders

[ljsbugblog]

One of my favourite Australian butterflies! Very common in leafy suburbs and bushland alike.

Orchard Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio aegeus), on Coastal Rosemary (Westringia fruticosa).

[briery]

Spicebush larva with osmeterium displayed When these caterpillars are confronted an orange forked gland flicks in and out like a tongue and secretes nasty smelling material. By John Flannery on Flickr. (Hi-Res).

[herpsandbirds]

Ulysses Swallowtail (Papilio ulysses), family Papilionidae, QLD, Australia

photograph by Kai

[kirstysdreams]

Papilio 👗

[kirstydreaming]

Ekaterina Feoktistova for Papilio

📷 Yakovlev Andrey

[drhoz]

#2786 - Scarlet Mormon Swallowtail - Papilio deiphobus

Could be male or female, as far as I can tell. Underside.

Female at lower right. Not sure which species the other one is.

Male.

Alternatively known as Papilio rumanzovia, depending who you listen to. The information plaques had it as rumanzovia. iNaturalist says deiphobus is the currently accepted name. AKA Papilio krusensternia, Iliades emalthion, Papilio descombii, and Papilio emalthion var. semperinus.

According to Harish Gaonkar, of the Natural History Museum in London:

... the origins of giving common English names to organisms, particularly butterflies for tropical species started in India around the mid 19th century ... The naming of Mormons evolved slowly. I think the first to get such a name was the Common Mormon (Papilio polytes), because it had three different females, a fact that could only have been observed in the field, and this they did in India. The name obviously reflected the ... Mormon sect in America, which as we know, practiced polygamy.

The various subspecies of deiphobus are found from the Mollucas to Sulawesi in Indonesia, and the caterpillars eat Citrus leaves. Like other Papilio species, they sequester terpenoids from their diet to produce a foul smelling oil if they feel threatened. The red markings allow the adults to mimic the poisonous Red-bodied Swallowtails such as Pachliopta aristolochiae and Pachliopta hector.

Otago Museum Butterfly House, Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand.

[kararadaygum]

..

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

You know you are chonk when you eat so much that the stem you are standing on collapses. Good luck to these two black swallowtail cats who found a rogue bronze fennel in my raised bed and went to town on it! I wish you a speedy transition to pupation and adulthood!!