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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Butterflies and Skippers (Papilionoidea) » Swallowtails, Parnassians (Papilionidae) » Papilioninae » Fluted Swallowtails (Papilionini) » Papilio » Eastern Giant Swallowtail - Hodges#4170 (Papilio cresphontes)
Photo#47768
Giant swallowtail cat - Papilio cresphontes
Copyright © 2006 Sharon

Giant swallowtail cat - Papilio cresphontes
Tavares, Lake County, Florida, USA
April 10, 2006
Feeding on a Florida native plant "Hercules Club"
tag · login or register to post comments
Contributed by Sharon on 13 April, 2006 - 10:07am

look very much lik
Looks very much like that. Except yellower. Pic taken from my phone so not as clear as is. Only guess it will be a differs yet similar shade. Like a snow flake.
… Bap, 5 September, 2011 - 6:03pm login or register to post comments

Hercules Club
There are two plants called Hercules Club: Zanthoxylum clava-hercules and Aralia spinosa. Fortunately, only the Zanthoxylum is listed as a host plant for Papilio cresphontes
… Chuck Entz, 14 April, 2006 - 12:43pm login or register to post comments

 
and the Xanthoxylum
is a member of the citrus family which is why cresphontes likes it, while Aralia is not.
… john and jane balaban, 14 April, 2006 - 1:12pm login or register to post comments

Ditto!
Great shot of Osmeterium.
… Jim McClarin, 13 April, 2006 - 6:07pm login or register to post comments

Looks annoyed with you
How did it smell?
… john and jane balaban, 13 April, 2006 - 10:31am login or register to post comments

 
Smell
I didn't notice a bad odor - just a sweet smell. Thought it was the plant at first. How bad should it have been?
… Sharon, 13 April, 2006 - 10:33am login or register to post comments

 
Black Swallowtails
P.polyxenes larvae have a similar organ. I find the smell rather pleasnt, a sweet perfume. One way I have been successful in finding the larvae is to walk through the food plant (old fields, roadsides) and 'look out' for the smell. It seems that brushing against the larvae causes them to 'display'. Then you can start searching the immediate area for the caterpillar.
Incidentally, the range of the Black Swallowtail in NB is much larger than the distribution shown in the Kaufman Guide.
… A.W. Thomas, 14 April, 2006 - 6:19am login or register to post comments

 
Read Brian's description
on of Osmeterium. Great shot, by the way. Brian will be jealous!
… john and jane balaban, 13 April, 2006 - 10:37am login or register to post comments

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