Black Swallowtail Butterfly

Hello everyone, 

We're having a little rain here today. It's Saturday and the weather is just perfect for keeping all the roses and new plants moist. 

I have a native California Dutchman's Pipevine in my garden. The Dutchman's Pipevine is the host plant for the Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillar. The plant is so unique. It's a perennial and the blooms look like a Dutchman's pipe. 

The other day I was looking out the back screen door and saw a butterfly on the vine. I quickly ran for my camera with my telephoto lens. I was very quiet and took this photo of a female Swallowtail Butterfly.

After taking a closer look I saw the butterfly laying eggs. 

The female butterfly is laying the rust-colored eggs on the under side of a leaf. 

I found a couple of caterpillars eating the leaves. Once full-grown. these rather unattractive caterpillars move away from the host plant and form a cocoon, only to emerge again in a few weeks as a beautiful butterfly and start the cycle all over again by mating.

Yum!

Some butterflies have evolved a survival strategy that enables their caterpillars to feed on a wide variety of plants, but others, like the Pipevine Swallowtail, have chosen to specialize on a small number of plants that give them a particular advantage.  To protect itself from being eaten, Dutchman’s Pipevine has evolved with chemicals that are at minimum distasteful to those who would eat it, and if a sufficient amount is ingested, they are toxic.  Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars are among the few creatures who are able to process these chemicals without harm to themselves, then store them in their bodies in such a way that they are toxic to their potential predators.  This chemical protection even survives metamorphosis and extends to the adult butterfly.  It is so effective that other butterflies mimic the appearance of the Pipevine Swallowtail, since this is often enough to warn off predators.

Wonderful things going on @ My Cozy Corner.
Thanks for visiting and thank you for your wonderful comments.
Joyously,
Betty
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