The first of our two post-diapause two-tailed swallowtail chrysalises (Papilio multicaudata) has eclosed. The chrysalises were received in diapause in August from Arizona but must have broken diapause in mid-October. Today we witnessed our first ever real life two-tailed swallowtail. Emerging around 2 PM on this relatively sunny afternoon, this gigantic butterfly is this largest we have seen in our life. A rough measurement of this individual (a female) was about 5.5 inches. It came from our largest chrysalis which was 2.9 grams before it emerged (that is very massive!). This is larger than any Eastern tiger (Papilio glaucus) or giant swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes), two of the more well known large swallowtails, that we have seen. Although Papilio multicaudata is much less frequently mentioned as being the largest swallowtail in North America, we wouldn't have our doubts even with our small sample size. Compared to the Western tiger swallowtail (Papilio rutulus), the two-tailed swallowtail comes off as being a much more yellow insect since the black stripes on the dorsal side are much less thick in proportion to the yellow portions. P. rutulus actually resembles the anise swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon) quite closely because of its smaller size and higher concentrations of black, but on the other hand you would never mistake a two-tailed swallowtail for an anise! However, the black borders on the edges are the wings seem quite thick and the black stripes on the ventral sides of the wings don't seem to be any less thick than those of P. rutulus. After its wings had hardened, we took it outside and took a few pictures. . . This butterfly doesn't actually have two tails as the name suggests. The scientific name multicaudata is probably more accurate; a quick glance tells us that it actually has four sets of tails. In reality, it only has one true pair, the one seen in most swallowtails, which is much longer than the other three pairs. But because of its overall large wing size, the points at the vein lines on the hind wings (seen in all swallowtails) have been much exaggerated that they are long enough to look like they are tails. As for breeding these things, we are in a very bad situation as of now. The other chrysalis that has been developing doesn't look like it is going to emerge for another few days, and assuming that it is a male we would have to wait another few days for his sperm count to rise before attempting to hand-pair him with the female that eclosed today. If we can get past the hand-pairing, we will need to find a host plant to try to get the female to lay her eggs on, which will probably prove to be a very difficult task in December. We currently don't really have any of multicaudata's host plants like Prunus virginiana and Fraxinus, and even if we did we would have a hard time finding leaves in this season. Of our two potential options, Klamath plum (Prunus subcordata) and privet (Ligustrum lucidum), the former may be ruled out based on the fact that some studies state that multicaudata is actually selective within the Rosaceae family and will only lay on a few species of Prunus. Privet is evergreen, but it too is highly questionable as a host; it has not been reportedly extensively as a host plant in literature and the only fact backing up the plausibility that it is indeed a potential host is that it is loosely related to Fraxinus (they are in the same family). Then, even if we manage to scrape up something, we would need to provide a warm enough environment to stimulate any activity. It is only about 60 degrees Fahrenheit these days and is only going to get colder in the coming weeks, so this would obviously require a heating system such as a reptile heat lamp. - Brian
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Timeline 2012–2017
Albany, California This timeline is a series of daily posts recording our observations on and experiences with various insects in Albany California and surrounding areas, from 2012-2017. Since we did not publish this site until 2016, posts before that were constructed retroactively. Starting in August 2017, we moved to Ithaca, New York; posts from there on can be viewed at Timeline 2017-present: Ithaca, New York. Archives (1,011)
August 2017 (49) July 2017 (121) June 2017 (79) May 2017 (77) April 2017 (91) March 2017 (35) February 2017 (12) January 2017 (10) December 2016 (12) November 2016 (26) October 2016 (49) September 2016 (84) August 2016 (94) July 2016 (99) June 2016 (53) May 2016 (21) April 2016 (4) January 2016 (1) August 2015 (3) July 2015 (3) June 2015 (2) June 2014 (3) May 2014 (1) April 2014 (3) March 2014 (3) December 2013 (2) November 2013 (2) October 2013 (5) September 2013 (11) August 2013 (15) July 2013 (9) June 2013 (5) May 2013 (4) April 2013 (3) March 2013 (2) February 2013 (3) January 2013 (2) December 2012 (2) November 2012 (1) October 2012 (2) September 2012 (2) August 2012 (5) July 2012 (1) June 2012 (1) Authors
![]() ![]() Full Species List (Alphabetical by scientific name) Note: - Not every species we encounter is necessarily presented on this site, rather a selection of those that were of particular interest to us and that we felt were worth documenting. - We can't guarantee that all species have been identified accurately, particularly taxa we are not as familiar with. Lepidoptera Actias luna Adelpha californica Agraulis vanillae Allancastria cerisyi Antheraea mylitta Antheraea polyphemus Anthocharis sara Argema mimosae Attacus atlas Battus philenor hirsuta Bombyx mori Caligo atreus Callosamia promethea Coenonympha tullia california Citheronia regalis Cricula trifenestrata Danaus plexippus Eacles imperialis Erynnis tristis Estigmene acrea Eumorpha achemon Eupackardia calleta Furcula cinereoides Heliconius erato Heliconius hecale Heliconius sapho Heliconius sara Hyalophora cecropia Hyalophora columbia Hyalophora euryalus Hylephila phyleus Hyles lineata Junonia coenia Langia zenzeroides formosana Lophocampa maculata Manduca sexta Morpho peleides Nymphalis antiopa Orgyia vetusta Orthosia hibisci quenquefasciata Pachysphinx modesta Papilio cresphontes Papilio eurymedon Papilio glaucus Papilio machaon oregonius Papilio multicaudata Papilio polyxenes asterius Papilio rumiko Papilio rutulus Papilio zelicaon Phyciodes mylitta Phyciodes pulchella Pieris rapae Plejebus acmon Poanes melane Polites sabuleti Polygonia satyrus Pyrgus communis Rothschildia jacobaeae Samia cynthia advena Samia ricini Smerinthus cerisyi Smerinthus ophthalmica Strymon melinus Trichoplusia ni Uresephita reversalis Vanessa annabella Vanessa atalanta Vanessa cardui Unidentified Lepidoptera Hybrids Papilio glaucus × Papilio rutulus Papilio polyxenes asterius × Papilio zelicaon Orthoptera Melanoplus devastator Phaneroptera nana Pristoceuthophilus pacificus Scudderia mexicana Trimerotropis pallidipennis Phasmatodea Carausius morosus Phyllium giganteum Mantodea Mantis religiosa Phyllocrania paradoxa Hymenoptera Apis mellifera Bombus vosnesenskii Brachymeria ovata Linepithema humile Pediobius sp. Polistes dominula Xylocopa varipuncta Unidentified Diptera Lucilia sericata Unidentified Hemiptera Brochymena sp. Leptoglossus sp. Nezara viridula Odonata Argia vivida Libellula croceipennis Coleoptera Coccinella septempunctata Cycloneda polita Diabrotica undecimpunctata Hippodamia convergens Araneae (Class: Arachnida) Araneus diadematus Phidippus johnsoni |