Detailed information on Eastern Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes)

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lightyellow

Ponte Vedra Beach, FL | June 2018 | Positive

This is a common large/showy butterfly species of the Eastern US whose host plants are various members of the carrot family, they do not eat citrus (that is Giant swallowtails) and due to the nature of swallowtail caterpillars being rather cannibalistic, it is unlikely they will harm/overwhelm your plants as they never occur in a huge density.

They really like dill, parsley, and fennel. In hot areas fennel, which can be bronze or green it doesn't matter, is the best as it is perennial (dill does to seed rapidly and dies in hot areas and parsley usually either dies or stops growing in summer). All are easy from seed.

There are many native members of the carrot family utilized by these but few are suited for garden culture (Golden Alexander is one of them and go... read more

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VooDooU

Yankton, SD | July 2017 | Positive

If you have issues with them plant Dill, its one of their preferred foods. We have Dill next to Milkweed plants to support Swallowtails and Monarchs.

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deb7

Norristown, PA | February 2011 | Positive

In September 2010 I found a caterpillar on my roses, a windy day, I identified it as a black swallowtail, and indeed my parsley plants were totally devoured. I placed it in a small cage with twigs and parsley, which it ate and in a week a pupa had appeared, suspended by two fine threads on a twig. In January I began to wonder if it was still viable, since it had not emerged. On a the day of our biggest snow storm, I glanced at the cage and behold, there was a butterfly..a black swallowtail! I had prepared a cage of netting and embroidery hoops months before and was ready to nurture this little creature! It is about a week old, "she" has been named Perserpina, meaning "to emerge" by my college aged daughter. She is actively feeding on sugar water in a jar lid, with a paper towel soake... read more

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LOVIE2

Boston, MA (Zone 6a) | August 2009 | Neutral

Oh my I feel terrible! I wish I knew that this was a Swallowtail before I killed it. It scared me 1/2 to death and I thought it was a hornworm I keep hearing about. I have tons of parsley, dill, carrots in my garden and that's exactly where I found it. I'm sure there's many more where that one came from. Next time I'll know better.

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Charilies2003

Savannah, GA | July 2009 | Neutral

I'm interested to know how destructive this is to citrus trees. I love butterflies, but want to know if I need to protect my citrus trees and how to do this, if necessary, without harming the butterflies. I have two in large pots in my yard. One is a Meyer Lemon Improved and the other is a Persian Lime. Does anyone have any info on this? I would appreciate any information on the caterpillars.

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tabasco

Cincinnati (Anderson Twp), OH (Zone 6a) | June 2009 | Positive

One of the most common butterflies in our garden, and I suppose that's because we provide a variety of its host plants for ovipositing, including wild parsnip and garden herbs from the carrot family like fennel and dill. This year we added orlaya, a pretty white annual to the garden to see if the Black Swallowtails would use that member of the carrot family, too..

We did have some Queen Anne's Lace on our property as a host plant but we removed it because it is said to be invasive in our area. The wild parsnip is a pesty plant also, and we will remove it before it reseeds this season.

The BSTs often nectar on alfalfa, red clover, common milkweed, swamp milkweed, thistle, purple coneflower and other flowers.

One of the smallest swallowtails... read more

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SusanLouise

Lincoln, NE (Zone 5b) | January 2009 | Positive

My husband and I had a mini nursery for these last summer and raised 14 of them...what a joy!

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Photog237

Waynesboro, PA | September 2008 | Neutral

We found three caterpillars on our parsley, which I relocated not knowing what they were. I have since had two more which I decided to leave on the parsley since we aren't eating any of it. No sense in letting it go to waste.

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twopuppies

Chester, IL | May 2008 | Positive

Another swallowtail seen flying on May first- an early season?

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aggscott

Wilkes Barre, PA (Zone 6a) | April 2008 | Positive

Easy and beautiful butterflies to raise. They will ususally find your dill or parsley or fennel real easy and leave a few gifts for you. If you take them in they are easy enough to raise. There is nothing like coming home to find one of these beauties has hatched, what a sight!

Loves the butterfly bush the most from what I've seen

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jillj97

Loxahatchee, FL | March 2008 | Positive

My children and I LOVE these caterpillars! We look forward to the eggs that appear on our parsley plants about 4 times a year. We watch them grow daily (and watch our parsley and dill disappear quickly!) turn into crysalis' and then into beautiful butterflies. It is sad that as many caterpillars that we start out with (well over 50 this most recent time), that we have only counted 8 crysalis'. So far, we've seen 3 of them "hatch" and work up their wings to full size and fly away. The life cycle is amazing! What a gift to have these in our garden!

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EJM1027

Urbanna, VA | September 2007 | Positive

I'm curious to know if this late (Sept 3) in the East/mid-Atlantic if the chrysalis is for over-wintering now? They have enjoyed what was left of the dill plants, they were very welcome to them, and one chrysalis is attached at this point to a stem. I will keep watching but, this is in an area subject to be tilled and if they over-winter now, I will remove them to a safe area. Anybody know?

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fly_girl

The Woodlands, TX (Zone 8b) | August 2007 | Positive

These butterflies can have two colors of chrysalids; dark brown or light brown. Usually, the dark brown will be on a rough surface and the light will be on a smooth surface.

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daylilylib

Egg Harbor City, NJ | June 2007 | Positive

I saw this butterfly in late June in one of my daylilies. Very beautiful!

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pford1854

Somerset, KY (Zone 6b) | June 2007 | Positive

After having at least 14 Caterpillars on my Dill plants outside, and after witnessing several Wasps "steal" the Caterpillars away, I finally took the remaining 5 inside on some Dill cuttings, into a vase. They continued to eat, poop, and sleep. Then after being about nine days old, they suddenly left the plants and starting climbing my walls and onto the ceiling. I put my gloves on, and gathered them into a coffee can, with a mesh lid. They made a horrible smell and stuck out the yellow "antlers" from their heads as I carried them. In the can, they quickly settled down and became real still, and started to curve their bodies so that only their tails were anchored onto the plant. Somehow, they make a thread around the waist of their bodies to help hold them into place. The next morni... read more

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catbird8

Houston, TX | June 2007 | Neutral

I could not find the Western Black Swallowtail in the overview. It does exist and has been documented as far East as Houston. Hard to tell the difference between East and West, but it can be done, especially with good confirmation photographs. Some butterfly books do not note the two, listing only Black Swallowtail.

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Marilynbeth

Hebron, KY | November 2006 | Positive

I always love to see these BF's in the garden! They are so beautiful! I'm happy to offer host plants and nectar plants!

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organic1

DFW Metroplex, TX (Zone 8a) | November 2006 | Positive

I found about 30 caterpillars on my single rue plant 24 September. By 1 October, they were all gone, and part of my plant, too. The damage is simply cosmetic. The plant is fine. One must be willing to sacrifice a part of their gardens’ beauty to enjoy the winged beauties later.

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jswords

columbus, MS (Zone 7b) | September 2006 | Neutral

The butterfly that this pretty caterpillar becomes is just lovely, but boy! he and his family ate an entire parsley shrub overnight! Fortunately, they are eating at the end of the season here (7b), and the parsely had already gone to seed for next year. the caterpillar is about 1-2" long, bright green with black and white horizontal stripes, and yellow dots on each band of black.
They love anything in the carrot family, so the website says...carrots, dill, parsley....
I'm kind of looking forward to seeing the chrysalis in a couple of weeks!

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SPRINTER

Harrisburg, PA | August 2006 | Neutral

I FOUND A CATERPILLER ON MY PARSLEY IN A POT ON MY DECK IN EARLY AUGUST. WE PUT IT IN A SMALL TERRARIUM AND WITHIN A FEW DAYS IT WAS A COCOON. WITHIN THE NEXT TEN DAYS IT WAS A BUTTERFLY - I THOUGHT IT WOULD TAKE TILL SPRING. ONLY TWO WEEKS ???

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Magpye

NW Qtr, AR (Zone 6a) | August 2006 | Neutral

Wing span: 3 1/4 - 4 1/4 inches (8 - 11 cm).

Identification: Upper surface of wings mostly black; on inner edge of hindwing is a black spot centered in larger orange spot. Male has yellow band near edge of wings; female has row of yellow spots. Female hindwing with iridescent blue band. In the Southwest, yellow forms predominate in the subspecies P. coloro.

Life history: Males perch and patrol for receptive females. Female lays eggs singly on leaves and flowers of the host, which are then eaten by hatching larvae. Hibernates as a chrysalis.

Flight: One-2 flights from April-October in northern regions of range; 3 flights in southern regions.

Caterpillar hosts: Leaves of plants in the parsley family (Apiaceae) including Queen Anne's... read more

Eastern Black Swallowtail

Papiliopolyxenes

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