The citrus butterfly Papilio xuthus is a common medium-sized butterfly that appears around April each year, flying in urban parks, neighborhoods and other green places, eating nectar. The wings are white with black stripes on a white background, and there are several fine black stripes on the base half of the middle chamber of the forewings, and like the golden phoenix butterfly, the citrus butterfly also has an orange-yellow spot at the corner of the hindwing hips, but there is a black spot inside the spot, which the golden phoenix butterfly does not have. (Spring-shaped citrus butterflies, orange spots may be very pale in color, leaving only black spots)
（sinobug.aminus3.com）
The hindwings of the citrus butterfly are prominently dowelized, so they are also called The Asian Swallowtail in English. Its distribution is also roughly limited to Asia, including China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, but in 1971, citrus butterflies were also found in the Hawaiian region, presumably introduced from Japan or Guam. Citrus butterflies have the ability to migrate short distances and can fly about 200 kilometers.
Unlike the heavy taste of the butterfly family (every time to black the butterfly family), citrus butterflies are also fed on nectar, the most impressive is that in May and June, the yellow wattles on the mountain are very arrogant, and even block the mountain road, attracting a large number of citrus butterflies, can not be driven away. The color vision of the citrus butterfly is very strong, and it has color constancy, that is, the ability to judge color is not limited by conditions such as background light and brightness, which helps it to find honey source plants in different environments, flowers that can be found in bright open land, and flowers that grow in dark forests.
Citrus Butterfly Visiting Flowers (www.office-m3.com)
Female citrus butterflies have the ability to multi-mat, which is common throughout the genus, and multiple mating can increase the genetic diversity of their offspring and can also produce more fertilized eggs. The larvae of citrus butterflies feed on a variety of plants of the family Rubiaceae, including but not limited to citrus, peppercorns, yellow peels, evodia and so on. In the Western Jin Dynasty Cui Bao's "Notes on Ancient and Modern Times", there is a saying of "orange beetle butterfly". Female butterflies will lay their eggs on the shoots of the branches, and after about three or four days the larvae will hatch, and the young larvae will mimic bird droppings, thus deceiving predators who hunt visually. The larvae instantly transform into a large green insect at the fifth age, with two sad eye spots on the chest and back, and when frightened, they will protrude yellow stinky glands and emit an eerie sweet fragrance, which is really a bit like a small green snake spitting out a letter.
Upper for 2nd instar larvae Lower for 5th instar larvae Photo: Frost moth
Please look for the registered trademark, yellow stink glands, if it is red, it is not a citrus butterfly (fotki.yandex.ru)
Citrus butterflies are very good to raise, suitable for people who want to raise butterflies to practice their hands, as long as there are enough host plants nearby, but don't mistakenly pick the leaves of pesticides. In addition, it is best to raise butterflies from eggs or young larvae, which can greatly reduce the chance that the larvae taken home will be parasitized. Citrus butterfly parasitic predators are many, there are parasitic flies, bees, wasps, etc., the rate of parasitization of five-year-old larvae in the wild is quite high, if you take a five-year-old green insect home, soon it appears on the body of the unknown black spot, it means that there is already a foreign shape in the stomach.
Borrowing the photo of The Teacher of Thumb Ji, you can see the black spots on the side of the larvae's body, indicating that it will not live long.
Five-year-old larvae parasitic eggs near the head and eye spots Photo: Frost moth
Wasps preparing to lay eggs on a pupa Photo: Frost moth
The parasites are so interesting that they can't stop
Those of you who want to raise citrus butterflies wish you success.
---------------------------------------- The Week of Butterflies is over----------------------------------------
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