Black Swallowtail Butterfly Life Cycle
From Gardens with Wings.com
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• Eggs are laid on leaves or stems of "host plants"
  • Certain species must lay their eggs on specific host plants.
  • These plants become food for the caterpillar when it emerges.

• Caterpillars (or larva) hatch from the eggs.
• Has chewing mouthparts and eats the plant on which its egg was laid.
• Caterpillars eat a lot and grow quickly!
• As it grows, it sheds (or molts) several times – its skin becomes too tight and splits open, revealing a new, larger skin underneath. Watch this super cool video of Black Swallowtail molting!

• Once the caterpillar is fully grown, it looks for a safe place that will keep it protected where it can pupate.
• It makes a silk-like mat and attaches its last pair of legs to the mat.
• It hangs there as it passes from the larval (caterpillar) stage to the pupa (chrysalis) stage of metamorphosis.
• Inside the chrysalis (casing that protects the changing animal), the caterpillar transforms into a butterfly.
• Its new skin is soft and damp at first, but after about an hour it becomes dry and hard, providing a protective shell for the caterpillar inside.

• When the metamorphosis process is complete, the butterfly emerges.
• At first, the wings are tiny, wet, and crumpled.
• The butterfly clings to its empty chrysalis shell the blood-like substance of insects, is pumped through its body.
• About one hour after emerging from its chrysalis, the butterfly's wings are full-sized, dry, and ready for flying.
• It will make short flights until it is strong enough to fly longer distances.
• A few days after emerging from the chrysalis, the butterflies are able to mate and begin the life cycle again.

• Nectar plants: Adult butterflies rely on flight to search for flowers with nectar (sugary liquid) on wildflowers, bushes, and trees. They use a long, curled tube-like mouthpart (proboscis) to drink the nectar inside the flowers.
• Host plants: Each species of butterfly has specific plant species (referred to as "host plants") on which they will lay their eggs. When the caterpillars emerge from the eggs, they will only eat these specific host plants.

• Butterflies get their water needs met by drinking nectar and visiting shallow puddles.
• Some species will also drink around decomposing plants or animals or around animal dung as a way to acquire minerals.
• If you have a puddling station in your garden (a saucer filled with sand, manure, and water), this provides minerals to visiting butterflies.

• Butterflies will use bushes or trees in your garden to take refuge from weather and predators.

• Each species of butterflies will only lay their eggs on specific plant species (referred to as “host plants”).
• The caterpillars will only eat these host plants.
• Once they stop eating and growing, they leave the host plants to find a safe place to hang from as they begin creating their chrysalis and pupating (the stage of metamorphosis between caterpillar and butterfly).

• The most important part of your butterfly garden is native plants (plants that occur naturally in our area).
• Native butterflies have co-evolved (influence each other in the process of development or evolution) with native plants.
• Native butterflies can more efficiently collect pollen and nectar from the flowers of native plants, which increases the butterflies' ability to survive and reproduce (lay eggs).
• Natives are better adapted for our specific climate and soil than non-native plant species that do not occur naturally and have been introduced to an area by humans).

• These plants are an important base in the food chain, as they attract native butterfly species which are in turn food for native birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.
• For these reasons, native plants increase the biodiversity (the variety of lving things found in a specific place) of your outdoor classroom.

1. Our native Giant Swallowtail caterpillar (on the left) looks just like bird poop!
2. The native Spicebush Swallowtail’s caterpillar (in the ceter) looks like a small snake or tree frog with very large eyes.
3. The native Hag Moth caterpillar (on the right) looks like a hairy spider with its flattened body and six pairs of curly, tentacle-like legs.

Arizona State University: Ask A Biologist