Colorful Swallowtail in the Gardens
by Chad Meyer
Title
Colorful Swallowtail in the Gardens
Artist
Chad Meyer
Medium
Photograph - Digital Photography
Description
A very colorful Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly pollinating the pentas lanceolata also commonly know as the Egyptian star flower or star cluster which is a species of flowering plant in the madder family, Rubiaceae.
Did you know the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is the state butterfly of North Carolina? It was selected because it can be found in all 100 counties of North Carolina and is easy to locate and recognize.
Eastern Tiger Swallowtails are yellow with black stripes, and have a wingspan of three to six inches. They can be found in many habitats, including woods, fields, near rivers and creeks, or in gardens. The butterfly larvae eat leaves, while adults eat flower nectar.
The female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail will lay single green eggs on leaves, which then hatch into caterpillars. The Caterpillars are brown and white when they are young, but as they grow they turn green with orange and black false eyespots. These spots fool predators into thinking the caterpillar is much larger than it truly is.
Uploaded
August 20th, 2023
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