Representatives of the swallowtail family are rightfully considered the brightest and largest butterflies. They attract attention with an unusual combination of colors and the original shape of the wings. The swallowtail butterfly can catch the eye of a curious observer anywhere in the world. About 20 species live in Russia, some are listed in the Red Book. One of the interesting features of sailboats is the tails on the hind wings. This detail distracts the birds' attention, saving the butterfly's life.
Features and habitat
Why is the butterfly called that - a large swallowtail? The origin of this interesting name is in the ancient country of Troy, where once upon a time there lived a famous healer named Machaon.
The legend about him says that a huge number of mortally wounded warriors literally returned from the other world thanks to the knowledge and efforts of this miracle doctor. A beautiful butterfly was named in his honor by biologist Carl Lineus.
This attractive creation of nature is characterized by its large size and unusually beautiful color. The wingspan of this butterfly reaches from 65 to 95 mm. The color of the wings is dominated by warm yellow tones.
Against this yellow background, black patterns are clearly visible, more of which are around the swallowtail’s body and on the rims of the wings. The patterns are stripes and specks. The hind wings are decorated with tails, the length of which is about 10 mm.
These same hind wings are decorated with a blue and rounded spot closer to the top of the wing and a rich red eye on its outer side. Summer swallowtails are characterized by a paler color.
In spring it is richer and brighter. The habitat of the butterflies also affects the color. Those that live further south have an intense yellow color and less clearly defined black contours. The inhabitants of the northern territories have a slightly paler yellow color on their wings, but the black patterns on them are clearly visible.
Males are usually smaller in size than females. A clearly visible organ of the swallowtail is its club-shaped antennae, which are characteristic of many butterflies. From every angle the view is beautiful and prosperous. It is impossible to look at a photo of a swallowtail butterfly without admiration .
It conveys all its magical beauty and charm. Looking at this creation of nature, you begin to understand how beautifully this world is structured. Some of its representatives make you believe in fairy tales and miracles. Just the sight of this insect lifts your spirits.
The swallowtail butterfly lives in many areas. You can find it in all European countries except Ireland. This incredible beauty is admired in North America, North Africa and Asia.
The swallowtail inhabits the southern expanses, including the tropical zone. This insect can also be found in Tibet at an altitude of about 4500 m. These butterflies are most comfortable in open areas. Swallowtails love meadows, forest edges, steppes, tundra, and sometimes semi-deserts.
Dragonfly-like
The lamprothera meges butterfly is not very large for a swallowtail. Its wingspan is only 5 cm, but they are equipped with long tails. And in flight, this butterfly resembles a dragonfly, since its front wings are almost devoid of scales and therefore translucent. You can meet this unusual sailboat, like the dragonfly, along the banks of rivers and streams in Southeast Asia.
"Lady with a Train"
Character and lifestyle
Swallowtail butterflies lead an active lifestyle from late spring to the last month of summer. At this time, they are noticeable on the sides of roads, in a city park, forest edge, and in a field.
Due to human labor activity, which pollutes the environment, there are fewer and fewer swallowtail butterflies in nature. Many varieties of this amazingly beautiful insect are listed in the Red Book.
Black swallowtail
This insect prefers to lead a diurnal lifestyle. The butterfly is so energetic that even after sitting on a flower to taste its nectar, it does not stop working with its wings.
These movements help the insect avoid encounters with enemies, which, unfortunately, they have in abundance in nature. As soon as the insect notices the slightest danger, it immediately takes off.
When the life of a swallowtail caterpillar is threatened, it releases a special poisonous liquid that protects it. In addition, the swallowtail is a favorite insect for butterfly collectors, which also largely leads to their extermination.
These innocent butterflies were exterminated en masse about 80 years ago. For some reason, people decided that swallowtails were harming them and declared war on them. When the person finally realized that there was no harm or danger from this insect, it was already too late, their number decreased significantly.
Swallowtail Maaka
Now connoisseurs of everything beautiful in nature can only hope that the swallowtail butterfly will not completely disappear from the face of the earth, but rather will gradually multiply.
Swallowtail - a beautiful butterfly or a malicious pest?
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Sometimes on dill we see a large green caterpillar with bright black stripes and orange spots. I used to crush them mercilessly. But just recently I learned that this is the caterpillar of the swallowtail butterfly. And it immediately became a pity to kill them.
Swallowtail is listed in the Red Book of many countries
Why is a swallowtail a swallowtail?
We have become accustomed to the idea that the brightest and most unusual animals live somewhere in distant lands. Our swallowtail, which belongs to the family of sailboats, is not inferior to many “tropicans” in its brightness of pattern and refinement of form, but it has become less and less common. About 80 years ago, the caterpillars of these butterflies were considered malicious pests of cultivated plants, so they waged a merciless fight against them. Therefore, the number of swallowtails has sharply decreased and today they are listed in the Red Book, not only in our country, but also in many European countries.
The swallowtail received its name from the famous Swedish systematizer Carl Linnaeus. He named the butterfly in honor of the outstanding surgeon of antiquity who participated in the Greek campaign against Troy. It is borrowed from ancient Greek mythology: Machaon was the name of one of the two sons of the Thessalian king and physician Asclepius (Aesculapius, later the god of healing). This name is found in Ovid, Virgil, ancient authors wrote about the “swallowtail craft”, “swallowtail medicine”.
Butterfly
Of our daytime butterflies, the swallowtail is the largest. Its wingspan sometimes reaches ten centimeters. It feeds on the nectar of flowers. This butterfly is always in flight. Even when she sits on a flower, she continues to flap her wings. The mating games of colorful swallowtails resemble intricate dances in flight.
After courtship, the female lays eggs on a food plant: on a stem or leaf. In total, during the breeding season, one female is capable of laying about 120 eggs. During its short life (only 20 days), the butterfly lays eggs twice.
The caterpillar feeds mainly on flowers and seeds of plants, less often on leaves.
Caterpillar
After 7 days, the swallowtail caterpillar hatches from the egg - very bright and very voracious, it can eat a bed of dill in a day.
The bright colors give it a menacing look. When irritated or threatened, the caterpillar puts out orange “horns” called osmetria, secreting an orange-yellow liquid with a pungent, unpleasant odor. Only young and middle-aged caterpillars protect themselves in this way; adult caterpillars do not move their glands when in danger.
The swallowtail caterpillar clings quite tightly to the stems and does not fall, even if the stem is cut off and taken to another place.
She does not climb trees and does not eat roots. Forage plants include various umbelliferous plants, in particular hogweed, carrots, dill, parsley, fennel, celery, and caraway seeds. Can feast on Amur velvet or alder. Prefers to feed on flowers and ovaries, less often on plant leaves. By the end of its development, the caterpillar hardly eats.
When irritated or threatened, the caterpillar puts out orange “horns.”
Doll
Pupation occurs on the stems of the host plant or on neighboring plants. The color of the pupae depends on the season - summer pupae are green or yellowish, covered with small black dots. Overwintering ones are brown in color, with a black head end and thick horns on the head.
So is it a pest or not?
Now it is difficult to say how significant the damage caused by the swallowtail to cultivated plants is. Plowing land, grazing, mowing, using pesticides - all this is a real environmental disaster for the swallowtail and many other insects. And it is now rare to see this caterpillar in our garden beds. Kill it or give it the opportunity to develop into a beautiful butterfly - it's up to you.
Today, scientists from different countries are trying to artificially breed rare, endangered swallowtails, and then release them into the wild. English experts tried to restore the population of the swallowtail, which disappeared in one of the wetlands of Cambridgeshire due to land drainage in the 1950s. The eggs laid by the butterflies in the laboratory were transferred here, having previously planted about 2 thousand bushes of the bitter bitter plant. The experiment, alas, was unsuccessful.
However, there, in the UK, thanks to the experiments of biologist K. Clark in the laboratory, it was possible to breed a large number of adult butterflies within 1-2 seasons. This gives us hope that our children and grandchildren will still be able to admire the aerial dances of the beautiful swallowtail.
Nutrition
The habitat of these insects must necessarily contain umbrella plants because it is their nectar that is the favorite delicacy of swallowtail butterflies. Lately, not often, but you can still notice them on carrots, dill, fennel, hogweed, caraway, parsley, angelica and other plants.
Swallowtail caterpillars prefer to extract beneficial substances from wormwood, ash, and alder. For adult insects, sometimes it does not matter whether the plant is an umbrella plant or not, as long as it contains enough nectar, which they obtain with the help of a proboscis.
It is very important for caterpillars to be constantly fed, so their feeding process begins from the very first moment of their birth. With the end of the caterpillar's development, its appetite noticeably decreases.
Area
The distribution area of the Maak's swallowtail extends to 54° north latitude. In Russia, this species inhabits Primorye, the Amur region (down the Amur it lives up to the outskirts of Kiselevka, Ulchsky district, where a lot of Amur velvet, the food plant of caterpillars, grows; lower along the Amur, only accidentally flown individuals are found), Southern Sakhalin and about. Kunashir; outside Russia, the species is distributed in Korea, China, and Japan. Butterflies of the summer generation can fly far from their breeding sites - to Eastern Transbaikalia[6], to the Northern Amur region[7], to the mouth of the Amur[8].
Male
Reproduction and lifespan
The breeding season of swallowtail butterflies is in spring. Usually these are the months of April-May. At this time, you can notice especially active circling of these insects in the air. It's like the dance of some magical fairies. To such an extent this spectacle is attractive and bewitching.
Swallowtail caterpillar
Many people calm their nervous system by looking at aquarium fish or a fire. The flight of butterflies and their intricate movements in the mating dance also make you forget about everything in the world. Their fluttering from flower to flower in pairs makes you think and dream about something airy and sublime.
Usually such dances end with the fertilization of the female, who tries to lay eggs on food plants. It is not difficult for one female to lay about 120 eggs in one mating season. These insects have a very short lifespan, but during this short time they still manage to lay a large number of eggs.
swallowtail caterpillars with a black color and red and white additives begin to emerge from such a clutch It is difficult to find more voracious creatures than newly born caterpillars. They eat the plant they are on with great appetite. As they grow, their color changes somewhat.
As soon as the cold weather begins to approach, the caterpillar turns into the pupa of a swallowtail butterfly. In this state, the swallowtail insect survives the winter cold, and in the spring it delights us with its transformation into a butterfly. Such a long cycle, unfortunately, does not make this insect a long-liver. Swallowtail butterflies live in nature for no more than 20 days.
Keeping at home
Let us dwell in more detail on the description of the procedure for breeding the swallowtail butterfly at home. In order for such a beauty to take root and reproduce in your home, you will need:
- an aquarium or terrarium, at the rate of 10 liters of volume for every 5 caterpillars;
- a small container of water where dill will be placed for feeding the caterpillars;
- branch for caterpillar pupation.
Did you know? To scare away possible enemies, the caterpillar uses osmeteria, a special protective organ located on its head. When the caterpillar is frightened, the osmeteria begins to emit a very unpleasant odor.
The bottom of the aquarium - or rather, now it would be more correct to call it an insectarium - should be lined with a layer of thick paper, its function is to absorb excess moisture. Humidity, in general, is one of the key points in the maintenance and breeding of caterpillars, and subsequently swallowtail butterflies. You can find a lot of conflicting information about how you should regulate humidity, or whether you should do it at all. In our case, the normal level is maintained by an open container of water containing dill.
You should also put several branches in the insectarium, preferably with shoots sticking out in different directions. The branch should lie on the surface, and the shoots should rise above the surface, in different directions. Such branches will be needed for caterpillar pupation.
Nutrition
What to feed the caterpillars was stated above; Now a few words about what swallowtail butterflies eat. In nature, insects feed on nectar. Give him a semblance of such nutrition - cut an apple or any other fruit, preferably one that is slightly beginning to rot, and leave it.
The method described above is not very effective, so it’s worth trying another option. Dissolve 2 teaspoons of honey in a glass of clean, settled water. Pour the resulting artificial nectar into a bowl or saucer. Carefully bring your pet and place it on the side of the bowl or on the edge of the saucer. Using a thin needle, pick up its proboscis and dip it in the nectar.
Lifespan
A butterfly lives on average three to four weeks.
Important! If you seriously decide to start breeding these beautiful creatures, you should know that some species of butterflies do not feed at all during their adult period. During this period of life, the insect uses the energy accumulated during its stay as a caterpillar. So if you come across, for example, a peacock eye, and it doesn’t touch the food, don’t worry, everything is fine
So if you come across, for example, a peacock eye, and it doesn’t touch the food, don’t worry, everything is fine.
Reproduction
Mid-August is the most favorable time for collecting caterpillars. It is better to take those whose size does not exceed two centimeters.
The caught caterpillar should be planted on dill. After 15-20 days, she will have eaten enough and will be ready to pupate. As the caterpillar grows, it will change color. There is no need to worry about this; these are normal consequences of shedding.
After 15-20 days, the caterpillar stops feeding and begins to look for a branch for pupation. When the caterpillar finds the desired branch, it attaches vertically to it on both sides. She will remain in this position for up to two days; Molting and pupation most often occur at night. The pupa emerges from a collapsed shell. Now you need to put the pupa with the branch in the refrigerator until the beginning of spring.
Now you know how swallowtails live in the wild and how to breed them at home. All of the above manipulations, at first glance, seem quite simple. But, if you decide to choose butterfly breeding as a hobby, and it doesn’t matter to you which one to start with, try breeding hawkmoth as a start. This is no less beautiful insect, and absolutely not demanding, which cannot be said about the swallowtail.
Subspecies
The wide distribution area of swallowtails has led to the formation of various subspecies, differing in color and size.
- P. m. bairdii is a black swallowtail butterfly native to North America. The dark shape is similar to the polyxene swallowtail. The main color is black. On the front wings there is a pattern of yellow strokes and spots located on a black border. On the hind wings, in addition to yellow and blue spots near the tails, there is an orange eye.
- P. m. ussuriensis - lives in Primorye and the Amur region, the group is characterized by large insect sizes. Females have a wingspan of 95 mm, and males have a wingspan of 85 mm. Insects are distinguished by their rich black and blue colors.
- P. m. hippocrates - a subspecies has settled in Japan and nearby islands, in which a blue stripe above a red eye is enclosed between two black ones.
- P. m. kamtschadalus are unique butterflies of bright yellow color with a faded black pattern and shortened tails. The endemic subspecies lives on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
- P. m. gorganus - continental subspecies is widespread on the plains of Russia, in the foothills of the Caucasus and Central Europe. What does the swallowtail butterfly, found in most European countries, look like? The wingspan does not exceed 60-70 mm, their tails are 6-7 mm long. The background of the wings is light yellow with a distinct black pattern and blue spots.
Appearance of the caterpillar
1st generation of caterpillars from May to June, 2nd - from August to September. The initial color of the caterpillar is black, with red “warts” and a large white spot on the back. As the caterpillar grows, the warts disappear and the caterpillar becomes green in color with black transverse stripes. On each black stripe there are 6 - 8 orange-red spots.
When irritated, the caterpillar pushes out a gland behind its head called the osmeterium. It consists of two long orange-red horns. In case of danger, the caterpillar moves the osmetria outward, lifts the front part of the body up and back, secreting an orange-yellow liquid with a pungent unpleasant odor. Only young and middle-aged caterpillars protect themselves in this way; adult caterpillars do not move their glands when in danger. Prefers to feed on flowers and ovaries, less often on leaves on food plants. By the end of its development, the caterpillar hardly eats.
In May, the first generation swallowtail butterfly caterpillars appear. From the eggs they emerge black with many orange warts and a white area on the back. After several molts, the caterpillar becomes bright green with narrow black transverse stripes and orange spots on each body segment. The larva has three pairs of true legs on the thoracic segment and five pairs of pseudolegs on the abdomen.
The larva has a defense mechanism against enemies. This is the fork-shaped gland osmetria. It is located in the prothoracic segment and looks like orange horns. The secretions and smell of osmetria repel ants, wasps and flies. The larvae use it at an early age. It does not affect larger predators - birds.
The size of this insect is quite decent among its relatives. The body length of the swallowtail is about 7 – 9 centimeters. The fragile wings of the swallowtail butterfly amaze with their beauty and variety of colors: the background is usually bright yellow, and there are black, white, red, and blue patterns on it. What lines and shapes you won’t see here! Wavy, rounded shapes - all this beauty fits most skillfully on two pairs of small swallowtail wings.
Butterflies that appear in spring have a brighter color than summer representatives of this species.
Grown-up swallowtail caterpillar
The swallowtail butterfly is one of the most beautiful insects. It is distinguished by a chic multi-colored color. At the same time, the shape of the wings of the butterfly is unusual. Now there are not as many species as there used to be. This is due to the fact that the insect is listed in the Red Book. But out of ignorance, many gardeners kill the insect, as it spoils the harvest of greens and vegetables.
The size of the butterfly reaches 9 cm. The wingspan can be even larger. The color is mainly dominated by yellow, brown and red tones. Blue insects are also possible. The color of a butterfly depends on the variety and habitat. The caterpillar is also distinguished by its brightness, so it is difficult not to notice it in the summer cottage.
Swallowtail butterfly: interesting facts
In 2006, at the initiative of the German Union for Nature Conservation, the swallowtail became a symbol of the country.
In this way, people's attention is drawn to the plight of endangered species. The tails and eyes on the tips of the wings serve to distract the birds' attention from the vital organs of the insect. If a butterfly is disturbed, it begins to flap its wings sharply, trying to scare away the enemy with the flashing of bright colors. The moth can be found in the mountains of Tibet at an altitude of up to 4500 km. At the end of summer, the bright colors on the scales fade, and the pattern on the wings becomes faded and unclear. The intensity of the color of the wings depends on climatic conditions. In subspecies living in the northern regions, the main color is sandy, almost white
Insects in the south change their palette to a bright yellow hue.
Description of the swallowtail
Papilio machaon represents the family of swallowtails (cavaliers), part of the order Lepidoptera (lepidoptera). The first description of the butterfly, as well as its Latin name, belongs to Carl Linnaeus.
Appearance
Swallowtail wings are not necessarily yellow: sometimes they are painted white, lined with characteristic black veins, and framed by a black border with light semicircles. This pattern is observed on the front wings, the rear ones always look brighter and more intricate.
Along the hind wings of the swallowtail there is a wide blue (pale blue) wave, limited by black “borders” above and below. The part of the wing adjacent to the body of the butterfly has a recognizable red/orange “eye” with a black outline. In addition, the hind wings are equipped with flirty (up to 1 cm long) tails.
The body of the swallowtail, overgrown with light hairs, is cut through by several indistinct black lines on the abdomen and chest, while the back appears very dark due to a thick black stripe running from the head to the very bottom. The oral apparatus looks like a black proboscis, curled into a spiral when unnecessary and straightened to suck out flower nectar. On the forehead there are long, segmented antennae with noticeable knobs at the tips.
The variability of pattern/color depends both on the date of appearance of the butterflies and on the region of their habitat. The further north it is, the paler the swallowtail. Less bright specimens are also observed among butterflies of the first generation, while the second generation is not only brighter, but also larger. True, in the first generation the black patterns on the wings are more distinct. If the summer is very hot, the pupae usually produce smaller swallowtails with a sophisticated black ornament.
Papilio machaon is very similar to Papilio hospiton (Corsican swallowtail), but differs from it in larger red/blue spots, less overall darkening of the wings and longer tails.
Swallowtail dimensions
This is a large diurnal butterfly with a wingspan of 64 to 95 mm. The size of the swallowtail is determined by its gender, generation (1, 2 or 3), as well as its habitat.
Lifestyle
Swallowtail, like other swallowtails, is active on warm sunny days. In such weather, he has access to his favorite flowers and inflorescences, which feed him with nectar filled with valuable microelements. Swallowtails need a lot of nectar, so they are often found in parks, meadows and gardens.
Males are territorial, with the center of the chosen territory located at the dominant height. Male swallowtails often gather in groups (10–15 individuals), sitting on dung or on the banks of nearby bodies of water. Males and females also sit on hills, tall trees, or flutter in the air, demonstrating a typical up-and-down dance.
Interesting. In nature, it is extremely difficult to capture a sitting butterfly with its wings fully open, since the hind wings are usually half hidden under the front ones.
This happens when the sun’s rays fall on a chilled swallowtail (at sunrise or after rain), and it spreads its wings as much as possible in order to quickly warm up and fly away. The swallowtail spreads its wonderful wings for a few minutes, and taking a photo at this moment is considered a great success for the photographer.
Lifespan
The flight of swallowtails (taking into account climatic conditions) occurs in spring and autumn, when one, two and even three generations of butterflies are born. Most swallowtails on the globe give 2 generations, in the north of the range - only one, but in North Africa - as many as three. The flight of butterflies in temperate climates lasts from May to August, on the African continent - from March to November. The lifespan of a swallowtail (regardless of its habitat) is about 3 weeks.
Enemies of butterflies
The main enemies of swallowtails are birds, spiders and other insectivores. But butterflies are also very vulnerable in the stages of transition to adulthood: in the form of eggs, caterpillars and pupae. Many die due to steppe fires.
The number of these butterflies varies in different regions. This is greatly influenced by their capture for collections. In Ukraine, Germany, Lithuania and Latvia, these butterflies are listed in the Red Book. The swallowtail butterfly is not a numerous species and does not cause harm to agriculture. But this became known not so long ago, and previously they waged a merciless fight against it. If scientists fail to restore the population of these beautiful creatures, they may disappear from the face of the Earth.
Order Lepidoptera - Lepidoptera Family Papilionidae - Swallowtails Papilio machaon L. - Swallowtail
Swallowtail is a rare, declining species and is listed in the Red Book. The decline in the number of this beautiful butterfly is associated, first of all, with the change or complete destruction of its habitats through the use of pesticides and other toxic substances, as well as due to trapping.
The swallowtail was first described by the Swedish scientist K. Liney in 1758. He named his discovery in honor of the son of the famous ancient Greek physician Asclepius, Machaon, who was known as a warrior and healer of the heroes of the Trojan War.
Swallowtail is a large butterfly, with a wingspan reaching 9 cm. The general color of the wings is bright yellow, the outer border is black with yellow edge holes. On the outer edge of the hind wings, blue spots are visible against a black background; at the rear corner there is a red spot with a blue tint; the hind wings have elongated tails. This species of butterfly is found from May to August in forest edges, clearings, meadows and vegetable gardens. Females lay round, smooth, yellowish eggs in the umbels of dill, parsley, carrots, cumin and other umbelliferous plants, on which caterpillars appear after 7 days. At first, the body of the caterpillars is completely black, but as they grow and molt, it gradually changes color and becomes bluish-green with black belts on which there are small orange spots. To scare away enemies of the caterpillars, two long sac-like glands located behind the head are used. When danger arises, these glands turn outward and emit an unpleasant odor. The swallowtail overwinters in the pupal stage. The female gives two generations per year. The emergence of butterflies occurs in May-June, the second generation - in August. Swallowtail butterflies feed on nectar of flowers, caterpillars feed on plants of Umbelliferae, Lamiaceae and some other plant families.
In total, there are 550 species of this beautiful family in the world fauna, and almost all of them are concentrated in warm regions of the globe. In the south of India, the island of Ceylon, in Africa there is a real kingdom of sailboats. There is their homeland, and only there, under the beneficial rays of the hot tropical sun, do they achieve their full beauty. In the virgin forests of tropical Africa, under the crowns of trees, like a swallow, the sailboat Antimachus flies, its wings spanning 23 cm. In recent years, the number of swallowtails has been rapidly decreasing. Their disappearance is explained by the fact that wild thickets of umbrella plants, whose leaves feed the caterpillars, are being destroyed. Some of the blame also falls on collectors who, in an effort to get the most beautiful butterflies into their collections, carefully catch them both for themselves and for exchange with butterfly lovers in other countries.
Thus, Machaon Papilio, about which some 10-15 years ago it was written that this is one of the most common butterflies in Europe, has now become an endangered species. Its range occupied the temperate zone of Asia, northern Africa, and North America. Vertically, it rose in the Alps up to 2000 m above sea level, and in Tibet - up to 4500 m. The ability to adapt to a variety of living conditions indicates the broad ecological plasticity of the species. But, even having a perfect survival mechanism, the swallowtail cannot withstand the onslaught of anthropogenic environmental factors, which often create extreme conditions.
Through the pages of the Red Book of Papilionidae
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