Page 58 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

BUTTERFLY CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Papilionidae
DISTRIBUTION North America, Eurasia, and North Africa
HABITAT Hillsides, open areas, canyons, fens, and shrub-steppe
HOST PLANTS Variety of Umbelliferae species, including Fennel
(Foeniculum vulgare); also Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus)
NOTE Charismatic species with many subspecies and forms
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated, but some subspecies may be threatened

ADULT WINGSPAN
4–4¼ in (100–110 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
1⁹∕₁₆–2 in (40–50 mm)
PAPILIO MACHAON
OLD WORLD SWALLOWTAIL
56
LINNAEUS, 1758

Old World Swallowtail caterpillars feed primarily on the
foliage of their host plants. Defense is based on crypsis, with
young caterpillars sporting a “bird dropping” saddle and
older caterpillars blending in well with their host plants. Birds
reportedly reject the caterpillars of some Old World Swallowtail
subspecies, so distastefulness may be another defense. Braconid
wasps often parasitize the larvae. Their development is rapid,
taking only three weeks from egg hatch to pupation. The pupae
from late summer caterpillars overwinter.

Up to three broods are produced annually, depending on
latitude and elevation, and the pupae may remain dormant
The Old World Swallowtail caterpillar is for two or more years. Adults sip nectar from thistles, zinnia,
smooth and whitish green, becoming green,
with transverse, intersegmental, black bands phlox, and rudbeckia. The English Swallowtail (Papilio machaon
and alternating, black and yellow spots arranged britannicus) is a renowned subspecies confined to some Norfolk

transversely on each segment to form bands.
The green head is prominently marked with four fens, and the Oregon Swallowtail (P. machaon oregonius) is that
black stripes and—sometimes—large spots.
The prolegs are green, each with a black spot. state’s official insect. The Swedish botantist Carl Linnaeus
(1707–78) named P. machaon after Machaon, the physician to
the Greeks in the Trojan War.

Actual size