A couple of weeks ago I was out walking and I came upon this green butterfly chrysalis. It looked like it was from a swallowtail, but I’d never seen a green swallowtail chrysalis, just brown ones. So I e-mailed a photo of it to by 10 year old nephew Max. He said that it was from a Black Swallowtail. Max indicated that they could have either a green or a brown chrysalis (who knew?).
I set the thing up in one of these plastic-type aquariums and put it in the kitchen to keep an eye on it. A swallowtail will overwinter in its chrysalis, and emerge as an adult butterfly the following Spring or Summer.
This morning I saw this. This butterfly is a mimic, meaning its pattern copies another animal. Its cousin, the Pipevine Swallowtail is poisonous to many predators. By copying the Pipevine Swallowtail, the Black Swallowtail gains protection from predators, even though it is not poisonous.
Like most butterflies, the Black Swallowtail is a good pollinator. As it visits plants, looking for nectar, it spreads pollen from flower to flower so the plants can grow.
Humans have greatly helped the Black Swallowtail. They brought non-native carrot species from Europe to North America. The Black Swallowtail uses non-native carrot species as food for its caterpillars (another food source is Queen Anne’s Lace).