Giant Swallowtail Butterfly

The giant swallowtail is the largest butterfly in the lowcountry, and can measure more than 5 inches across! This butterfly has a yellow body and a lot of yellow on the underside, and the top of the wings are black with distinctive yellow stripes. It uses the citrus family of plants as a host, and this toothache tree is one of the more common host plants here. Single eggs placed on the underside of a leaf hatch into a caterpillar disguised as bird poop. As they grow, they begin to display coloring like a snake, with the full grown caterpillar looking a little scary. Once they have eaten their fill of toothache tree, they form a curved shaped chrysalis, which resembles the bark of the tree. In a few weeks they will emerge as a butterfly and the cycle begins again!