Eurytides marcellus

File:Zebra Swallowtail Megan McCarty10.jpg

The zebra swallowtail has a wingspan of {{convert|6.4|to|10.4|cm|abbr=on}}.{{cite web|last=Opler|first=Paul A.|title=Zebra Swallowtail Eurytides marcellus|url=http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Eurytides-marcellus|work=Butterflies and Moths of North America|publisher=Big Sky Institute at Montana State University|access-date=30 March 2011}} The triangular wings are white to greenish white with black longitudinal stripes. A pair of swordlike tails extend from the hindwings.{{cite book|last=Pyle|first=Robert Michael|title=National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies|year=1981|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|location=NY|isbn=0-394-51914-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/audubonsocietyfi00robe/page/347 347–348]|url=https://archive.org/details/audubonsocietyfi00robe/page/347}} The inner margin of the hindwing has two blue spots on the corner and a red spot near the body. A red stripe runs along the middle of the ventral hindwing. P. marcellus has two seasonal forms, one occurring in the spring and the other in the summer. Spring forms are smaller, more white, and have short, black tails with white tips. Summer forms are larger, have broader black stripes, and longer, black tails with white edges.{{cite book|last=Brock|first=Jim P.|title=Butterflies of North America|url=https://archive.org/details/butterfliesofnor00broc|url-access=limited|year=2003|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|location=New York City, NY|isbn=0-618-15312-8|author2=Kaufman, Kenn |page=[https://archive.org/details/butterfliesofnor00broc/page/24 24]}}{{cite book|last=Shull|first=Ernest M|title=The Butterflies of Indiana|year=1987|publisher=Indiana Academy of Science|location=IN|isbn=0-253-31292-2|page=81}}

The zebra swallowtail can be seen from late March to August in the northern portion of its range and from February to December in the southern portion. It has two broods in the north and three to four in the south,{{cite book|last=Cech|first=Rick|title=Butterflies of the East Coast|year=2005|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, NJ|isbn=0-691-09055-6|author2=Tudor, Guy |page=61}} with the first brood being the most numerous.

Males will patrol near host plants in search of females, flying swiftly and directly.{{cite book|last=Scott|first=James A.|title=The Butterflies of North America|url=https://archive.org/details/butterfliesofnor00jame|url-access=registration|year=1986|publisher=Stanford University Press|location=Stanford, CA|isbn=0-8047-2013-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/butterfliesofnor00jame/page/162 162–163]}} They usually fly {{convert|0.5|to|1.8|m|ft|sp=us}} above the ground. Females will fly slowly when searching for suitable host plants.{{cite book|last=Iftner|first=David C.|title=Butterflies and Skippers of Ohio|year=1992|publisher=College of Biological Sciences and The Ohio State University|location=OH|isbn=0-86727-107-8|author2=Shuey, John A. |author3=Calhoun, John V. |page=67}} Both males and females avidly visit flowers, including species from the families Apocynaceae, Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, Lythraceae, Polemoniaceae, and Rosaceae. Males participate in a behavior known as puddling, in which individuals congregate on sand, gravel, or moist soil to obtain salts and amino acids. These nutrients aid the male in reproduction.{{cite journal|last=Medley|first=Scott R.|author2=Eisner, Thomas |title=Sodium:A male moth's gift to its offspring|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|date=January 1996|volume=93|issue=2|pages=809–813|url=http://www.pnas.org/content/93/2/809.full.pdf|doi=10.1073/pnas.93.2.809|pmc=40138|pmid=11607627|bibcode=1996PNAS...93..809S|doi-access=free}} Other food sources include rotting fruit and urine.

Since the caterpillars are cannibalistic, females lay their eggs singly on pawpaw leaves or on the tree trunks. The round egg is pale green, later turning orange brown. Young caterpillars are black with lighter colored transverse stripes. Older larvae have two color forms. The more common form is green with yellow and white transverse stripes; the rarer form is black and banded with white and orange. In both forms, between the swollen thorax and the abdomen, there is a yellow, black, and bluish-white band.{{cite book|last=Wagner|first=David L.|title=Caterpillars of Eastern North America|url=https://archive.org/details/caterpillarseast00wagn|url-access=limited|year=2005|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, NJ|isbn=0-691-12144-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/caterpillarseast00wagn/page/n82 82]}} The larva has a yellow, foul-smelling, forked gland called an osmeterium which it will use to deter predators, especially spiders and ants. The chrysalis is either green or brown, and is more compact compared to chrysalids in the genus Papilio. Three small horns project from the head and thorax. The chrysalis hibernates in areas of its range with cold winters.

{{Gallery

|title = Life cycle

|File:Zebra Swallowtail laying an egg, Megan McCarty104.jpg|Female P. marcellus laying an egg on common pawpaw

|File:Zebra Swallowtail eggs, Megan McCarty106.PNG|An egg on a host plant leaf. On the left, the egg is one day old; on the right, it is three days old.

|File:Zebra Swallowtail larva, Megan McCarty121.jpg|A green form larva

|File:Zebra Swallowtail larva, Megan McCarty46.jpg|A black form larva

|File:Zebra Swallowtail chrysalis, Megan McCarty108.jpg|Lateral side of a chrysalis

}}

File:Asimina triloba3.jpg, a host plant of the zebra swallowtail]]

The zebra swallowtail caterpillar feeds on species within the genus Asimina and was found to accept, oviposit and grow on leaves of the tropical soursop- Annona muricata in 1998. Commonly used species include Asimina angustifolia (slimleaf pawpaw), A. incana (woolly pawpaw), A. parviflora (smallflower pawpaw), A. reticulata (netted pawpaw), A. tetramera (four-petal pawpaw), and A. triloba (common pawpaw).{{cite book|last=Glassberg|first=Jeffrey|title=Butterflies through Binoculars: The East|year=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York City, NY|isbn=0-19-510668-7|page=44}}{{cite web|last=Hall|first=Donald W.|title=Zebra swallowtail|url=http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/bfly/zebra_swallowtail.htm|work=Featured Creatures|access-date=31 March 2011|author2=Butler, Jerry F. |date=September 1998}} P. marcellus caterpillars ingest neurotoxic chemicals called annonaceous acetogenins from their host plants, which are retained in the body tissues of both the caterpillar and the adult, and may help chemically protect the butterfly from birds.

Residents of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania began planting pawpaw with the aim of encouraging the zebra swallowtail to return to its once-northernmost range. Success was documented in 2024.{{cite news |title=Editorial: The return of a long-lost butterfly (and a nearly forgotten fruit) to Pittsburgh |url=https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/editorials/2024/09/23/zebra-swallowtail-butterfly-pawpaw-pittsburgh-conservation-success/stories/202409230001 |agency=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=23 September 2024}}{{cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Daniel D |title=When zebras fly: How my backyard flora project helped bring a long-gone species back to Pittsburgh |journal=Public Source |date=12 September 2024 |url=https://www.publicsource.org/zebra-swallowtail-butterfly-pittsburgh-pawpaw-diversity/}}

{{Commons}}

{{Wikispecies|Eurytides marcellus}}

{{Reflist}}

• Edwin Möhn, 2002 Schmetterlinge der Erde, Butterflies of the world Part XIIII (14), Papilionidae VIII: Baronia, Euryades, Protographium, Neographium, Eurytides. Edited by Erich Bauer and Thomas Frankenbach Keltern: Goecke & Evers; Canterbury: Hillside Books. {{ISBN|978-3-931374-87-7}} All species and subspecies are included, also most of the forms. Several females are shown the first time in colour.

• [http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/bfly/zebra_swallowtail.htm Zebra swallowtail] on the University of Florida/IFAS Featured Creatures Web site

{{Taxonbar|from1=Q21163005|from2=Q3016214}}

Category:Eurytides

Category:Butterflies of North America

Category:Butterflies described in 1777

Category:Taxa named by Pieter Cramer

Category:Lepidoptera of the United States

Category:Lepidoptera of Canada