Presto, Chango!
The butterfly gardeners' motto might be "if you plant it, they will come." I picked up a few packs of parsley and dill plants recently, intending to add them to a new butterfly garden bed in my yard. Parsley, dill, and other members of this plant family provide food for black swallowtail caterpillars.
Photo: © Debbie Hadley, WILD Jersey
Before I could get the plants in the ground, a black swallowtail butterfly found the parsley and deposited some eggs on the foliage. Yesterday, I discovered this caterpillar resting on a leaf. The youngest black swallowtail caterpillars resemble bird droppings, clever camouflage if you ask me. What critter is going to eat something that looks like poop?
I noted that the caterpillar wasn't interested in eating, which could only mean one thing - it was preparing to molt. Sure enough, by this afternoon the caterpillar looked noticeably different (see insect picture). By the time it reaches its final instar, the caterpillar will be a bright green, with black and yellow markings on each segment.
>What critter is going to eat something that looks like poop?
Parasitic wasps…There is nothing more disappointing than having a wasp crawl out of the chrysalis instead of a butterfly.
-Jayson
I plant dill each spring just for the black swallowtails and have never been disappointed until this year. I have loads and loads of dill and no caterpillars…;o(