I’ve seen Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and Spicebush Swallowtail butterflies in enormous abundance for the last month, but no caterpillars. This is probably understandable given what the HOSTS Plants Database tells me about their caterpillar food: tulip poplars, maples, alders, cherries, hornbeams, hickories, oaks - in other words, they’re way up in the middle of the air.

On the other hand, I haven’t seen any Giant Swallowtail butterflies Papilio cresphontes, but yesterday I did find the caterpillars. There were several of them happily munching away at my Common Rue plants (Ruta graveolens). They are quite unlike any other caterpillar; so ugly they’re cute:


In my neck of the woods we’d call this a bulldawg face.


Little kids love to poke at things with sticks. Imagine my surprise when I irritated him and he shot these bright red things at me.


They’re sensing organs, called an osmetrium. The photos really don’t do them justice - they’re much longer than this and strongly resemble a snake’s darting tongue. He shoots them out, and then slowly withdraws them back into his head. As far as I know they do not become antennae in the adult. Oddly, all my books show the caterpillar with these things extended, but none says that a relaxed caterpillar doesn’t show them; only when disturbed.

By the way, Common Rue is not native. However it does encourage not only Giant Swallowtails, but also Black Swallowtails and Anise Swallowtails. Have to watch for those too.

Something new every day!