Scientific Name:  Battus philenor
Order:  Lepidoptera
Family:  Papilionidae
Diet:  Host plants for caterpillars are pipevine and wild ginger.  Adults feed on nectar from flowers such as; thistles, bergamot, lilac, viper?s, lupines, butterfly bush and many others.
Vegetation Association:  Pipevine and wild ginger is the host plant for larvae.  Found in habitats of open woodlands, canyons, meadows, fields, gardens, streamsides, orchards and roadsides.
Predators:  Eaten by birds and flying insects.  Pipevine swallowtail have warning colors to deter predators.  Caterpillars have horns that excrete a foul smelling liquid.
Life Stages:  Complete metamorphosis; egg, larva, pupa, adult.
Notes:  Young caterpillars feed and shed their skin, or molt. The final molt produces the pupa, and then the butterfly rests.  Once free of the chrysalis, fluid from its body is pumped into its wings, the wings then are allowed to dry before it flies away to look for food and a mate.  Larvae and adults are poisonous to predators due to their pipevine diet.    Horticulture has spread the pipevine population and, thus; has increased the range of this butterfly. Caterpillars feed in small groups when young but become solitary when older.
Photo:  To be added.

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