Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly

Facts about Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly, "Scientific name for Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly is Papilio maackii" Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly is a Papilio type butterfly that comes from the Papilionidae family. The Alpine Black Swallowtail butterflies are largely found in Japan, Asia, South Korea and China. The flying season of the Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly starts from March and continues until October. They can be seen at the borders of forests, particularly close to azalea bushes. They can also be seen in the grasslands, and in the plains and on the coastline, if they have an adequate amount of grass. Alpine Black Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly are one among the biggest butterflies in the world. Furthermore, the Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly are also called by other names, such as Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly, Parsnip Swallowtail or the American Swallowtail.

Features

Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly is a big-size butterfly with the wingspan, ranging from 12 cm to 14 cm (4.7 inches to 5.5 inches). It has a black-colored body that is sprinkled with some green color scales. The top wings of the male Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly are black in color and speckled with several green color scales. The Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly have brown color wings and their back wings are black in color, and they are speckled with purple and blue scales, with a broad tail. The eyes of the Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly are positioned closer to the sides of their body. The underside of their hind wings appears in dark brown in color and it is lined with orange or red color spots. The end of the wings of the Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly is chipped off while they are flying around. Usually, female butterflies are more intensely colored and vivacious than male butterflies.

The Alpine Black Swallowtail butterfly is an attractively gorgeous butterfly. They may look like some other varieties of the butterfly, but they boast certain attractive spots, which make them stand separately in the mass of look-alikes. Both the genders of Alpine Black Swallowtail butterflies appear iridescent.

Diet

The Alpine Black Swallowtail butterfly feeds on the nectar of Mikan trees, and other fruit-bearing trees in the Mikan family, like the mandarin. The Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly drink nectar from azaleas, too. The larvae of the Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly feed on the Amur cork leaves and the prickly ash.

Behavior

Usually, the Alpine Black Swallowtail butterflies have two broods in a year, the first brood from April to May, and the second from July to August. Similar to other butterflies, the Alpine Black Swallowtail butterflies will gather together in huge groups. Their behavior may be associated with the mate choice, as the majority of the female butterflies who crowd are virgins. This means that the female Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly that have previously mated are not generally found in this group. Mating associates are decided subsequent to a detailed courtship dance. The male Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly then grabs the female butterfly and transports a package of sperm, which is called as a spermatophore. If the couple is troubled during transfer, they may get on with the wing, and they will fly in tandem, united at the genitals. As soon as the male Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly has copulated with a female butterfly, the female butterfly closes her genital aperture by means of a mating plug. This stops another male Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly from mating with her and defends his hereditary investment.

Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly are insects. A Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly is a herbivore; Meaning that as a caterpillar its first food is its own eggshell and than it will eat the leaves of the plant on which it is hatched. When it becomes a butterfly, it will feed mostly on nectar from flowers, rotting fruit and water with a "proboscis" - a long narrow tube in their mouth that looks like a straw.

Life cycle of a Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly comes in four stages, egg, larva "caterpillars", pupa "chrysalis" and adult Butterfly.
A Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly will attach its eggs to leaves with a special glue.

When caterpillars become fully grown they will attach to an appropriate leaf or small branch, than they will shed the outside layer of their skin and a hard skin underneath known as a "chrysalis" will be their new look
An adult Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly will come out from the "chrysalis" than it waits a few hours for its wings to dry and fill with blood, before it takes its first flight.

Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly can see yellow, green, and red. An adult butterfly average life span is from a week to a year
The top flight speed of a Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly is 12 miles per hour (19 Km/ph) and some moths can fly up to 25 miles per hour (40 Km/ph).
A Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly is cold-blooded, which means the body temperature is not regulated on its own. A Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly can't fly or eat if their body temperature is below 82 degrees fah (28 cel). Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly are often basking in the sun with their wings open to gain heat and than the veins in the wings carry the heat to the body.
A Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly has sense organ, on their feet or tarsi, for tasting
The estimate is between 15000 and 20000 different species of butterfly.

A Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly has a small body, made up of three parts – the head, abdomen and thorax. A Butterfly has two large eyes, which are made up of many small parts which are called "compound eyes".
A Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly has two antenna's on the top of their heads, which they use to smell, hear and feel. A Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly mouth is a long tube a "proboscis" - a long narrow tube in their mouth that looks like a straw when its done eating, it rolls the tube back up.

A Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly has three pairs of legs and their feet have little claws that help them stand on flowers. The Alpine Black Swallowtail Butterfly wings are made up of hard tubes that are covered with a thin tissue. The butterfly's wings are covered with fine dusty like scales. A Butterfly has four brightly colored wings having distinctive patterns made up of tiny scales. The bright patterns scales sometimes have hidden ultraviolet patterns for attracting mates. The bright colors are also used as camouflage to hide them or scare off predictors.