#spicebush swallowtail | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

forsythiahill · 8 months

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Participated in the annual National Butterfly count today in Charlottesville, VA. Some gorgeous butterflies but numbers were absolutely down this year. Happy to see a few classics looking good. Monarch, Sulphur, and Spicebush Swallowtail.

#nature #gardening #gardens #butterflies #butterfly #butterfly count #spicebush swallowtail #swallowtail #monarch #sulphur #native plants #monarda #milkweed

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evilertree · 4 months

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Bugband sax

My first After Effects project in half a year, excuse any jank. Not super experienced but want to get better.

#illustration #spicebush swallowtail #spicebush swallowtail caterpillar #animation #after effects #bug #cw bugs #caterpillar #freaking cat pillar eat my purple #artists on tumblr #my art

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geopsych · 2 years

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Spicebush swallowtail butterflies on bee balm.

#butterflies #monarda #bee balm #swallowtail butterflies #spicebush swallowtail #papilio troilus

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thomas--bombadil · 2 years

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A brightly-colored butterfly feasting on milk thistle is a good and happy thing to see.

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pasupumpkin · 6 months

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Hi…….. :3

#spicebush swallowtail

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vandaliatraveler · 2 years

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Smallanthus as sustainer and life-giver.

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pterouras · 10 months

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Hi: sorry for the delay, but I’d like to share where my caterpillars are!

Behind the scenes I’ve been raising a third species of caterpillar, and I’d like to share Papilio glaucus, two eastern tiger swallowtails!

As of now both of these caterpillars are in their fourth instars, and they’re thriving on black cherry (Prunus serotina), the same plant I’ve moved my promethea caterpillars (Callosamia promethea) onto. As it turns out, using sassafras as a host plant didn’t go great as it dries out far too quickly, so I moved them all onto this new host which lasts far longer. They’ve settled in quite nicely now!

The second brood of promethea eggs hatched too, and I attempted to mix them what what remained of the first brood (many of them died off). These caterpillars were off to a rocky start, as they kept wandering to places they shouldn’t be (caterpillar drowning anyone?), knocking each other off the leaves, and easily sustaining injuries that would be fatal to these delicate larvae. Despite quite a few deaths though, the group did pull through! I’ve counted, and there are about 25-26 promethea caterpillars left, and they’re doing much better now. Here’s some photos!

All of the promethea caterpillars still seem to be in the first instar, but I do think some of them are ready to molt to the second. As they share a branch with the tiger swallowtails I’ll likely move the latter soon as their appetite is proving to be overwhelming for the little guys.

The spicebush swallowtails (Papilio troilus) have been coasting along fine as well. However, since their host plants dry out EXTREMELY fast when cut off from the main plant, their growth seems to be stunted compared to the tiger swallowtails. They still seem to be alive, but two of them are in their third instars, while I think the third is in the second instar?

The three species I’ve noted all have intriguing differences in their behavior that I’d like to share!

In their earlier instars, Callosamia promethea are gregarious; this means that they’re very social and thrive in groups! Being around others encourages this species to eat if others are doing it. This is why sometimes they can starve out of nowhere; this generally happens to freshly hatched caterpillars that wander off and can’t find a group in time.

While they will eat alone sometimes if they’re given a few days, they still prefer group behavior. Many caterpillars are gregarious and often have different formations that they line up into. C. promethea likes to form rows and clusters, shown below!

The two swallowtail species in contrast are both solitary, and prefer feeding by themselves in all instars. However, they’re still both extremely interesting! These caterpillars like to use silk a lot to create pads they use for various purposes.

P. glaucus likes spinning a silk pad in the middles of leaves they’ve deemed a spot to rest! This silk folds up the edges of the leaf, but not completely. I’m actually not completely sure as to the purpose of this silk pad. My main theory is that is allows the caterpillar to locate the leaf it’s deemed its resting spot, as it can judge from which leaf has the curls/silk. Otherwise, I can’t really think of another purpose. I may have to look into it further as sometimes the caterpillars will just move to new leaves and create new silk pads there.

I used a flashlight in the photo below. The shiny spots indicate where the caterpillar has spun its silk pad.

P. troilus on the other hand likes taking it a step further. They’ll use their silk pad to curl the leaf around entirely to form a shelter for themselves. They tend to retreat into these little shelters when they aren’t eating. It seems a lot more practical than what P. glaucus does since the shelter can offer a lot of protection, especially in evading detection from hungry birds.

You can see below how these caterpillars spin the edge of the leaf around to the bade to form their shelter! The caterpillar can also be seen inside, though the lighting isn’t the best.

I hope this was an enjoyable update! I wanted to share some things I thought would be interesting to learn, especially with how unique these caterpillars can be. I’ll try to update more going forward, but thank you for reading this far! I’m excited to share more on these caterpillars going forward!

#insects #bugs #lepidoptera #moths #silk moths #saturniidae #callosamia #butterflies #caterpillar #papilio #papilionidae #tiger swallowtail #spicebush swallowtail #promethea moth

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angelnumber27 · 2 years

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spicebush swallowtail caterpillar

#it looks like a Pokémon!!!!#cutie #caterpillar #spicebush swallowtail #spicebush swallowtail caterpillar #bugs #biomimicry #predator camouflage #camouflage #orange #baby #animals #insects #bugs tw #upload #green #nature

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shatteredskull · 7 months

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I LOVE THIS FUCKING CREATURE.

#catipillar #spicebush swallowtail #love this guy #silly #cutie pie #la creatura

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autisticle010 · 7 months

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Hi I just came back to show these

Look at them I love them.

#ken txt #caterpillar #spicebush swallowtail #babies

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steeldustlily · 7 months

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Spicebush Swallowtail, Papilio troilus

#photography #butterfly #spicebush swallowtail #photographers of tumblr

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borgersbugbox · 9 months

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Monarchs and a spicebush swallowtail at the Ohio State Fair!

#monarch butterfly #spicebush swallowtail #butterfly #identified

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laughing-thrush · 1 year

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Mind my company doesn’t ship plants- but we do have some spare shirts available for shipping! Limited, so plant nerds get in there. The spicebush joke still tickles me, ngl, so glad we were able to print some!!

Plant pickup is in Geist in central Indiana, so local peeps are welcome to browse our preorder too of course 👍👍👍 As always, I am happy to field native plant questions!

#Native Plants Unlimited #NPU #Native species #midwest native plants #Indiana native plants #Plants #plantblr #kill your lawn #botany #bad plant jokes #GREAT plant jokes I think I mean #Bloodroot #spicebush #Spicebush swallowtail #Red-backed salamander

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spaghetti-doodlesart · 2 years

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