Black Swallowtail larva

Rob & Ryan lepidopterists at home.com
Thu Aug 10 00:38:01 EDT 2000


    Hi there Chuck, I have never reared black swallowtails but have reared
many of the indigenous swallowtails of North America.
Many that I have reared have pupated on the food plant but this is only
because they were sleeved and had little choice as to were to pupate.
    I have collected many chrysalis's from the wild and have only once found
a chrysalis on it's preferred food plant. (Papilio zelicaon) found on Cow
Parsnip (Heracleum lanatum). Generally swallowtail larva will wander away
from their food plant in search of a suitable pupation site. So its my
belief that if you no longer can find them on the food plant they have
wandered of to pupate or may have met with a untimely death at the hand of a
unscrupulous predator.

            Happy collecting
            Robert Vandermoor,  B.C. Canada



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