It’s time for the next generation of swallowtails to get started.
Tiger swallowtails, for example, are hatching from eggs laid on leaves of the tulip trees and black cherries that the larva will rely on for food. But before eating leaves – and they do not eat enough leaves to harm the trees – their first food is the egg case they hatched from, consuming it for the chitinous protein that insects rely on for both flexibility and stiffness.
The fascinating process that takes them from the egg to the adult butterfly progresses through five instars over a period of about 40 days. During the first three instars they have the appearance of a bird dropping. For later instars before forming a chrysalis, the caterpillars take on a bright green appearance with two markings that appear to be eyes, thought to make would-be predators mistake them for snakes.
