July 6, 2026

I am a Black Swallowtail Butterfly

Parasitoids find my larvae by chemicals in their feces

My larvae use their mandibles to throw their poop away

As do other Swallowtail Butterfly species.

Location: Oregon, Ohio

Sources: https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN906

Photo and text © 2026 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

If you are reading and enjoying this blog, please consider supporting me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/deeat8am, or purchase my current book, The Rhyming Guide to Florida Spiders (details at https://deeateightam.blogspot.com/p/rhyming-guide-to-florida-spiders-now.html). Thank you for being a reader and friend of Dee at 8 A.M.

October 14, 2025

I am a male (shown first) Black Swallowtail

I am more colorful than my mate

But she is a better Pipevine mimic

And thus, less likely to be ate!

(Pipevine Swallowtails are poisonous, so it is the female butterfly's best interest to look as much like one as possible to avoid predation.)

Location: Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park

Sources: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN906

https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/pipevine-swallowtail-blue-swallowtail

Photo and text © 2025 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

If you are reading and enjoying this blog, please consider supporting me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/deeat8am, or purchase my current book, The Rhyming Guide to Florida Spiders (details at https://deeateightam.blogspot.com/p/rhyming-guide-to-florida-spiders-now.html). Thank you for being a reader and friend of Dee at 8 A.M.

September 27, 2025

I'm a Black Swallowtail Butterfly

In Florida you can find me almost everywhere

Except I'm not in the Florida Keys

Because my Apiaceae host plant doesn't grow there.

Location: Cocoa, James G. Bourbeau Memorial Park

Sources: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN906

Photo and text © 2025 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

If you are reading and enjoying this blog, please consider supporting me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/deeat8am, or purchase my current book, The Rhyming Guide to Florida Spiders (details at https://deeateightam.blogspot.com/p/rhyming-guide-to-florida-spiders-now.html). Thank you for being a reader and friend of Dee at 8 A.M.

November 17, 2021

I am a Black Swallowtail butterfly

I am indirectly associated with Socrates

We both consumed poison hemlock

I'm alive due to my different biology.

(To quote the UFL article below, "Black swallowtail caterpillars are able to detoxify the furanocoumarin chemicals (particularly the linear forms) in these and other toxic Apiaceae (Berenbaum 1981)." Read also the other linked articles for information on furanocoumarin and how it can affect humans.)

Location: Kissimmee Prairie State Park

Sources: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN906

https://www.life.illinois.edu/berenbaum/newpage1.htm

https://www.chemistryworld.com/podcasts/furanocoumarin/3009708.article

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

July 20, 2018

Location: Sebastian, Riverwalk

I am a Black Swallowtail butterfly
I live in marshes, and fields and roadsides.
If you want to see me, grow parsley and milkweed,
I'll grow strong with the food they can provide.

Sources: Butterflies and Moths of North America - Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes)

Photo and text © 2018 Dee Fairbanks Simpson