Papilio polyxenes asterius Pupae Arrive

We had 12 black swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes asterius) pupae arrive today. Stock origin from Ohio.​

---

After years of rearing anise swallowtails (Papilio zelicaon), we now finally have some black swallowtails (Papilio polyxenes asterius), their eastern counterpart. The pupae arrived in good condition, with some still attached to the host plant. From a quick glance, it seems that the sex ratio is quite good and, because they are green and its so early in the season, they are most definitely not diapausing. When they emerge, we intend on attempting hand-pairings and getting them to lay eggs.

Additionally, we could also try some hybrid crosses with zelicaon if we have some available at the time. Of course we wouldn't be the first to attempt this type of cross, but it is still a relatively uncommon one. Most amateur breeders have only tried hybrids of Papilio machaon. 

Speaking of zelicaon, we took this as an opportunity to compare the pupae of the two closely related species. The first thing that we noticed was that the polyxenes were consistently a different shade of green than our four zelicaon.  All of the polyxenes were of the exact same bluish green color with bits of pale, whitish streaks whereas all of the zelicaon were yellow green. The overall pattern, however, is basically identical between the two. Only minor differences in morphology were perceivable such as the horn lengths and ratios.

​With the largest polyxenes pupa weighing 1.2 grams, it does not seem like there is a difference between the size of the respective strains of the two species but with such a minuscule non-random sample size, this is hardly conclusive. If we are able to breed the polyxenes in big numbers, it will probably become much more clear though.  

---

Authors
​Brian Liang

---