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Pipevine Swallowtail

Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly

Pipevine Swallowtail Duo

Battus philenor

Handsome devils, also from our New River Gorge trip.

It was the strangest thing – at least a half dozen of these butterflies congregating on granite rocks in a parking lot just slowly opening and closing their wings. They were very calm when we approached them and let me get all up in their business to snap a few photos.

After I identified them I learned that they have a specific host plant that their larvae feeds on which gives them protective poisonous qualities just like the Monarch butterfly (host plant = Milkweed). Because of this they are mimicked by the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail which isn’t poisonous, but uses the markings to help defend against becoming some bird’s lunch.