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Battus philenor, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 12 August 2008                                                                                   Ref #: I-399-8

Pipevine Swallowtail

Battus philenor Linnaeus, 1771

Subfamily Papilioninae

Tribe Troidini, Aristolochia Swallowtails

Taxonomy

There are about 600 species within the family Papilionidae.  The family is made up of 3 subfamilies, the Parnassiinae, which has about 50 species of Parnassians and Apollos that are found mostly in the montane regions of the nothern hemisphere, the Baroniinae, which has only 1 species, Baronia brevicomis from western Mexico, and the Papilioninae, which has about 550 species found worldwide.  The subfamily Papilioninae is further divided into 4 tribes, the Teinopalpini, which include 2 species from the Himalayas, the Leptocircini, which has about 140 species and includes kite Swallowtails, the Papilionini, which has over 200 worldwide species and includes the fluted swallowtails, and the Troidini, which has about 130 worldwide species including the birdwings as well as the Aristolochia Swallowtails in which Battus philenor belongs to.

Battus philenor, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 2 October 2005                                                                                  Ref #: I-329-5

Battus philenor, Ouachita National Forest, Cedar Lake, Le Flore County, Oklahoma, 28 June 2010                                                                                     Ref #:  I-442-9

Battus philenor, Ouachita National Forest, Cedar Lake, Le Flore County, Oklahoma, 28 June 2010                                                                                     Ref #:  I-442-6

Battus philenor, Ouachita National Forest, Beech Creek, Le Flore County, Oklahoma, 28 June 2010                                                                                     Ref #:  I-443-8

Battus philenor, Ouachita National Forest, Cedar Lake, Le Flore County, Oklahoma, 28 June 2010                                                                                     Ref #:  I-442-8

Battus philenor, Ouachita National Forest, Beech Creek, Le Flore County, Oklahoma, 28 June 2010                                                                                     Ref #:  I-444-5

Battus philenor, Ouachita National Forest, Beech Creek, Le Flore County, Oklahoma, 28 June 2010                                                                                   Ref #:  I-444-4.2

Battus philenor, Ouachita National Forest, Cedar Lake, Le Flore County, Oklahoma, 28 June 2010                                                                                    Ref #:  I-442-14

Battus philenor, The Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary, Denton County, Texas, 29 July 2009                                                              Ref #: I-427-8

Battus philenor, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 17 August 2009                                                                                   Ref #: I-429-3

General Information:

Battus philenor is a common dark swallowtail found in the southern United States in a variety of open habitats usually near deciduous woodlands.  It avidly collects nectar and is a common garden visitor.  Males can also be found in numbers imbibing minerals from the edges of lakes, rivers, and puddles on gravel roads.  Battus philenor caterpillars eat noxious pipevines and sequester toxic chemicals from them which persist into adulthood, eggs and pupae.  These chemicals make the butterfly very distasteful to predators and many other species mimic this butterfly in order to gain protection.  These other species include the Spicebush Swallowtail, the female Black Swallowtail, black morph of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, the Red-Spotted Purple, and the female Diana Fritillary.

Lifecycle:

Larval hostplants include pipevines.  Some of the more common are Dutchman’s Pipe and Virginia Snakeroot.  Larvae consume the entire plant.

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Woolly Pipevine, Aristolochia tomentosa, a common larval food plant, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma                                           F-62-7.7

Battus philenor, larva with osmeterium partially everted, on Woolly Pipevine, Aristolochia tomentosa, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 12 May 2012                                                                                          Ref #: I-509-13

Battus philenor, larva on Woolly Pipevine, Aristolochia tomentosa, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 12 May 2012               Ref #: I-509-11

Battus philenor, larva on Woolly Pipevine, Aristolochia tomentosa, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 12 May 2012             Ref #: I-509-4.2

Battus philenor, larva on Woolly Pipevine, Aristolochia tomentosa, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 9 May 2012               Ref #: I-505-4.2

Battus philenor, larvae on Woolly Pipevine, Aristolochia tomentosa, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 9 May 2012                  Ref #: I-505-2

Battus philenor, larva on Woolly Pipevine, Aristolochia tomentosa, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 12 May 2012               Ref #: I-509-14

Battus philenor, larva on Woolly Pipevine, Aristolochia tomentosa, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 12 May 2012              Ref #: I-509-9.2

Battus philenor, larva on Woolly Pipevine, Aristolochia tomentosa, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 9 May 2012                  Ref #: I-505-1

Battus philenor, larva with osmeterium partially everted, on Woolly Pipevine, Aristolochia tomentosa, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 12 May 2012                                                                                            Ref #: I-509-5

Battus philenor,exhibiting mud-puddling behavior,  Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 2 June 2012                                           Ref #: I-522-1

Battus philenor,exhibiting mud-puddling behavior,  Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 2 June 2012                                           Ref #: I-522-4

Battus philenor, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 10 August 2008                                                                                 Ref #: I-398-16

Battus philenor, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 10 August 2008                                                                              Ref #: I-398-14.1

Battus philenor,exhibiting mud-puddling behavior,  Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 5 August 2010                                        Ref #: I-451-4