Podalirium butterfly: description, life cycle, habitats. sailboat swallowtail

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

The Podalirium Butterfly got its name in honor of the famous ancient Greek doctor Podaliria, the hero of myths. This species belongs to the family of sailboats.

Habitats

In search of food, the butterfly flies along the slopes of ravines, foothills, glades, forest edges. May fly into gardens and parks rich in flowering trees and shrubs.

Due to the fact that sailboats (butterflies) migrate long distances in search of housing, they can be found in North Africa, the Near and Middle East, the Caucasus, and also in hot areas of Europe. In the warm season, these insects can be seen in Scandinavia and the British Isles.

In the Crimea, the butterfly lives in the mountains and on the plains. She prefers areas with shrub vegetation.

Podalirium butterfly: description

Her belly is narrow and long. The forehead of the butterfly is strongly lowered. The pattern on the wings, the span of which reaches 7-9 cm, is the same for females and males.

The main color is cream, on which there are three long and two short transverse wedge-shaped stripes of a grayish tint. The front fenders, 3 to 5 cm in size, are edged with a black frill along the edge. On the hind wings are black tails, as well as two gray wedge-shaped stripes and bright blue spots. The edge of the wings is bordered by stripes of brown and black, on which there is one blue spot each. The females of these butterflies are larger than the males.

Varieties of Podalirium

The color of the wings of an insect may vary depending on the subspecies.

Podalirium butterfly resembles a ship sailing on the water surface. It can be found in alpine meadows. Distinctive features of this butterfly species:

• wide black stripes;
• small wing size;
• relatively short ponytail on them.

Several more subspecies are known:

• Iphiclides podalirius virgatus. It has snow-white wings.
• Iphiclides podalirius feisthamelli. The subspecies is found in Portugal and Spain. Males have pale yellow forewings with an orange-yellowish border.

Swallowtail sailboat

This butterfly, unlike the Podalirium, has a different wing pattern and tail length. This name was given to the insect by the Swedish scientist K. Linnaeus. The first generation of butterflies has a paler color. There is a dark pattern on their wings. In very hot weather, scientists noted the appearance of smaller individuals. Insects of the summer generation are distinguished by a brighter color and larger size.

Swallowtail forms more than 30 subspecies. It belongs to the same family as the podaliria. In the northern part of Europe, sailboats (butterflies) develop mainly in one generation. They fly from July to August. In the south of Europe, two generations are distinguished, which fly from April to October. The lifespan of an adult is approximately three weeks.

Life cycle and reproduction

The development of a butterfly (podaliria) occurs in two generations. The first is born after May 10 and actively flies for a month, the second - from July to August.

The male attracts the female with beautiful bright wings, fluttering next to her. Before laying eggs, the female carefully looks for a plant from which to feed, and lays one egg on the back of the leaf. Butterfly eggs are dark green in color with a reddish top, bordered by a pair of yellowish rings. After a short period of time, their color changes, becoming bluish with a black pattern. The shape of the egg is slightly spherical. The embryo is located in a fragile mesh shell. The ripening stage lasts from six to seven days. In her lifetime, the female lays up to one hundred and twenty eggs.

The caterpillar has an oblong shape, its length is approximately 3 cm. Development occurs from May to April of the following year. Caterpillars feed on leaves in the early morning and at night, nibbling them around the edges. During the day they are at rest, holding on to the leaves with a woven pad. In moments of danger, special glands emita specific smell that repels predators.

To pupate, the caterpillars spread over great distances in search of the appropriate place. This process occurs in dense shrubs, near rhizomes or in crevices of tree trunks. The summer pupa has a greenish color with small veins that resemble the leaves of a fodder plant. Winter - dark yellow or brown, disguised as the color of dry leaves. The pupae spend the winter period attached to a fodder plant.

What does the Podalirium butterfly eat?

A caterpillar of this species chooses fruit trees for this purpose:

• apple tree;
• cherries;
• plum;
• peach.

The butterfly feeds on the flowers of the following plants:

• viburnum;
• honeysuckle;
• snakehead;
• broom;
• scabioses;
• curly;
• cornflower.

In recent years, there has been a decrease in the number of subaliers. The reason is the use of a large number of chemicals to destroy pests in the fields, as well as cutting down fruit trees.

Podalirium butterfly is under protection in the reserves of Russia and Ukraine. Places where the number of individuals is large are in entomological reserves. Here, cattle grazing is limited and the amount of pesticides used is reduced.

This type of butterfly is listed in the Red Books of Russia, Ukraine and Poland.