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1) - They have a wing span of 2.5 to 4.1.

2) - They fly around 2 to 6 feet of the ground.

3) - You can see the Zebra swallowtail butterfly for March to August.

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Protographium marcellus, the zebra swallowtail, (formerly listed under genera , Iphiclides, Graphium and Papilio by some authorities) is a swallowtail butterfly native to the eastern United States and southeast Canada. It is the state butterfly of Tennessee. Its distinctive wing shape and long tails make it easy to identify, and its black-and-white-striped pattern is reminiscent of a zebra. The butterflies are closely associated with pawpaws, and are rarely found far from these trees. The green or black caterpillars feed on the leaves of various pawpaw species, while the adults feed on flower nectar and minerals from damp soil.

Description

The zebra swallowtail has a wingspan of 6.4 to 10.4 cm (2.5 to 4.1 in). The triangular wings are white to greenish white with black longitudinal stripes. A pair of swordlike tails extend from the hindwings. The inner margin of the hindwing has two blue spots on the corner and a red spot near the body. A red stripe runs along the middle of the ventral hindwing. P. marcellus has two seasonal forms, one occurring in the spring and the other in the summer. Spring forms are smaller, more white, and have short, black tails with white tips. Summer forms are larger, have broader black stripes, and longer, black tails with white edges.

Flight period

The zebra swallowtail can be seen from late March to August in the northern portion of its range and from February to December in the southern portion. It has two broods in the north and three to four in the south, with the first brood being the most numerous.

Males will patrol near host plants in search of females, flying swiftly and directly. They usually fly 0.5 to 1.8 meters (2 to 6 ft) above the ground. Females will fly slowly when searching for suitable host plants. Both males and females avidly visit flowers, including species from the families Apocynaceae, Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, Lythraceae, Polemoniaceae, and Rosaceae. Males participate in a behavior known as puddling, in which individuals congregate on sand, gravel, or moist soil to obtain salts and amino acids. These nutrients aid the male in reproduction. Other food sources include rotting fruit and urine.

Since the caterpillars are cannibalistic, females lay their eggs singly on pawpaw leaves or on the tree trunks. The round egg is pale green, later turning orange brown. Young caterpillars are black with lighter colored transverse stripes. Older larvae have two color forms. The more common form is green with yellow and white transverse stripes; the rarer form is black and banded with white and orange. In both forms, between the swollen thorax and the abdomen, there is a yellow, black, and bluish-white band. The larva has a yellow, foul-smelling, forked gland called an osmeterium which it will use to deter predators, especially spiders and ants. The chrysalis is either green or brown, and is more compact compared to chrysalids in the genus Papilio. Three small horns project from the head and thorax. The chrysalis hibernates in areas of its range with cold winters.

Female P. marcellus laying an egg on common pawpaw

Host plants

The zebra swallowtail caterpillar feeds only on species within the genus . Commonly used species include A. angustifolia (slimleaf pawpaw), A. incana (woolly pawpaw), A. parviflora (smallflower pawpaw), A. reticulata (netted pawpaw), A. tetramera (four-petal pawpaw), and (common pawpaw). P. marcellus caterpillars ingest chemicals called annonaceous acetogenins from their host plants, which are retained in the body tissues of both the caterpillar and the adult, and may help chemically protect the butterfly from birds.

Edwin Möhn, 2002 Schmetterlinge der Erde, Butterflies of the world Part XIIII (14), Papilionidae VIII: Baronia, Euryades, Protographium, Neographium, Eurytides. Edited by Erich Bauer and Thomas Frankenbach Keltern: Goecke & Evers; Canterbury: Hillside Books. ISBN: 978-3-931374-87-7 All species and subspecies are included, also most of the forms. Several females are shown the first time in colour.

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Protographium marcellus , the zebra swallowtail, (formerly listed under genera , Iphiclides , Graphium and Papilio by some authorities) is a swallowtail butterfly native to the eastern United States and southeast Canada. It is the state butterfly of Tennessee. Its distinctive wing shape and long tails make it easy to identify, and its black-and-white-striped pattern is reminiscent of a zebra.

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1) - They can fly up to 30 miles an hour.

2) - They live in every continent executed Australia and Antarctica.

3) - They cam fly up to 100 miles a day.

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The painted lady is one of the most familiar butterflies in the world, found on nearly all continents and in all climates. They are a favorite subject of study in elementary school classrooms and are a familiar visitor to most landscape gardens. Yet common as they are, painted ladies have some unique attributes. Here are 10 fascinating facts about the painted lady, or Vanessa cardui.

1. The painted lady is the most widely distributed butterfly in the world. Venessa cardui inhabits every continent except Australia and Antarctica. You can find painted ladies everywhere from meadows to vacant lots. It's sometimes called the cosmopolitan butterfly, because of its global distribution. Although it is resident only in warmer climates, it often migrates into colder regions in spring and fall, making it the butterfly with the widest distribution of any species.

2. The painted lady is sometimes called the thistle butterfly or the cosmopolitan butterfly. It is called the thistle butterfly because thistle plants are its favorite nectar plant for food; it is called the cosmopolitan butterfly because of its global distribution. Its scientific name- Vanessa cardui -translates as "butterfly of thistle."

3. Painted ladies have unusual migration patterns. The painted lady is an irruptive migrant, meaning that it migrates independent of any seasonal or geographic patterns. Some evidence suggests that painted lady migrations may be linked to the El Niño climate pattern. In Mexico and some other regions, it appears that migration is sometimes related to overpopulation. The migrating populations that move from North Africa to Europe may include millions of butterflies, and migrating populations numbering hundreds of thousands of individuals are common. In spring, painted ladies fly low when migrating, usually only 6 to 12 feet above the ground. This makes them highly visible to butterfly watchers, but also rather susceptible to colliding with cars. At other times, evidence suggests that painted ladies migrate at such high altitudes that they are not observed at all, simply appearing in a new region unexpectedly.

4. Painted ladies fly fast and far. These medium-sized butterflies can cover a lot of ground, up to 100 miles per day during their migration. A painted lady is capable of reaching a speed of nearly 30 miles per hour. Painted ladies reach northern areas well ahead of some of their more famous migrating cousins, like monarch butterflies. And because they get such an early start to their spring travel, migrating painted ladies are able to feed on spring annuals, like fiddlenecks ( Amsinckia).

5. Painted lady butterflies do not overwinter in cold regions. Unlike many other species of butterflies that migrate to warm climates in winter, painted ladies die once winter hits in colder regions. They are present in cold regions only because of their impressive ability to migrate long distances from their warm-weather breeding areas.

6. Painted lady caterpillars eat thistle. Thistle, which can be an invasive weed, is one of the painted lady caterpillar's favorite food plants. The painted lady probably owes its global abundance to the fact that its larvae feed on such common plants. The painted lady also goes by the name thistle butterfly, and its scientific name- Vanessa cardui- means "butterfly of thistle."

7. Painted ladies sometimes damage soybean crops. When the butterflies are found in large numbers, they can do serious damage to soybean crops. The damage occurs during the larval stages when caterpillars eat soybean foliage after hatching from eggs.

8. Males use the perch and patrol method for finding mates. Male painted ladies actively patrol their territory for receptive females in the afternoon. Should a male butterfly find a mate, he will usually retreat with his partner to a treetop, where they will mate overnight.

9. Painted lady caterpillars weave silk tents. Unlike other caterpillars in the genus Vanessa, painted lady larvae construct their tents from silk. You'll usually find their fluffy shelters on thistle plants. Similar species, such as the American lady caterpillar, make their tents by stitching leaves together instead.

10. On overcast days, painted ladies can often be found on the ground, huddling in small depressions. On sunny days, the butterflies prefer open areas filled with colorful flowers.

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What Are Some Fascinating Facts About Painted Lady Butterflies?

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The painted lady is one of the most familiar butterflies in the world, found on nearly all continents and in all climates. They are a favorite subject of study in elementary school classrooms and are a familiar visitor to most landscape gardens. Yet common as they are, painted ladies have some unique attributes.

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1) - They are Meduim sized.

2) - They have wingspan of 4.5-6.2.

3) - They chase any thing that is in their space.

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Species information

About

The small tortoiseshell is a medium-sized, pretty butterfly that is common in gardens where it feeds on buddleia and other flowers. It is on the wing throughout the year, having two or three broods and overwintering as an adult. The caterpillars feed on common nettle.
Male small tortoiseshells are very territorial, chasing each other, other butterflies and anything else that appears in their space. They court females by 'drumming' their antennae on the females' hindwings.

How to identify

The small tortoiseshell is mainly reddish-orange in colour, with black and yellow markings on the forewings and a ring of blue spots around the edge of the wings. The similar painted lady is also orange with black spots, but lacks the yellow and blue markings.

Distribution

Widespread.

Did you know?

The similar-looking large tortoiseshell was a common butterfly in Victorian times, but is now considered to be extinct in the UK. Sightings are usually migrants or escapees from captivity. It is thought that a range of factors caused its decline, including parasitism, climate change and Dutch Elm Disease which devastated its main foodplant.

How people can help

To attract butterflies, such as the small tortoiseshell, into your garden, plant nectar-rich borders for them to feed along and climbing Ivy and shrubs for overwintering insects.

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The small tortoiseshell is a medium-sized, pretty butterfly that is common in gardens where it feeds on buddleia and other flowers. It is on the wing throughout the year, having two or three broods and overwintering as an adult. The caterpillars feed on common nettle.

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1) - They live for six to eight mouths.

2) - They have a wingspan of 4.1 inches.

3) -  They live in North America, South America and Australlia.

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Monarch butterflies live in North, Central, and South America as well as Australia, some Pacific Islands, India, and Western Europe. Their markings include bright orange wings covered with black veins and rimmed with a black border and white dots. Females have thicker veins in their wings. A monarch's brilliant coloring tells predators: "Don't eat me. I'm poisonous." The butterflies get their toxins from a plant called milkweed, which is their only food source in the caterpillar stage. An animal that eats a monarch butterfly usually doesn't die, but it feels sick enough to avoid monarchs in the future.

The most amazing thing about monarch butterflies is the enormous migration that North American monarchs undertake each year. Every fall, as cold weather approaches, millions of these delicate insects leave their home range in Canada and the United States and begin flying south. They continue until they reach Southern California or central Mexico, nearly 2,500 miles away!

These international travelers return to the same forests each year, and some even find the same tree that their ancestors landed on. Some estimates say up to a billion butterflies arrive in the mountains of Mexico each year.

Scientists aren't sure how migrating monarchs know which way to go, since they only live a few months and none makes the journey more than once. Toward the end of winter, the monarchs in Mexico and California mate. The males then die, while the females head north, depositing eggs on milkweed plants along the way and eventually dying themselves. From these tiny, round eggs come small green-and-white-striped caterpillars, which feed on the milkweed leaves. For about two weeks, they eat constantly and grow by shedding their skin. They are then ready to transform into pupae. To become a pupa, also called a chrysalis, a monarch larva attaches itself with silk to a leaf or branch, sheds its skin, and forms a hard shell. This vase-shaped case starts out green with shiny golden dots and slowly becomes white, then see-through. After 9 to 15 days, a fully formed butterfly emerges.

The entire egg-to-butterfly process, called metamorphosis, takes about a month. Once out of the pupa, the damp butterfly inflates its wings with blood stored in its abdomen. It must wait for its wings to dry before it flies away. Adult butterflies don't grow. They survive by drinking nectar from flowers, including milkweed, clover, and goldenrod.

Threats to survival

Scientists think North American monarchs have been making their amazing annual journey for thousands of years. But threats to their habitat and food source are making the migration more difficult, and monarchs are now on the endangered species list.

Habitat destruction over decades in areas where they spend the winter has taken a massive toll. The impact is felt by both the western population, which is found west of the Rocky Mountains and winters on the California coast, and the eastern population, which is found in the eastern United States and Canada and winters in Mexico 's fir tree forests.

In their summer habitats, pesticides used in farming have killed monarchs as well as milkweed, the plant they eat and lay their eggs in. Climate change, too, is an increasing threat as dramatic weather events such as hurricanes and drought become more common along the butterflies' southern migration routes.

Now that the monarch has been added to the endangered species list, conservationists hope that more people will understand how much danger these butterflies are in and that organizations will step up to show folks how to help protect this amazing insect.

For instance, conservationists encourage people to plant milkweed in their yards so monarch butterflies can lay their eggs and their caterpillars have food to eat. Volunteer opportunities include citizen science, in which regular people help scientists collect critical data that will be used to develop conservation policies to protect monarchs. ( Find out how you can help.)

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Monarch butterflies live in North, Central, and South America as well as Australia, some Pacific Islands, India, and Western Europe. They're on the endangered species list. Find out how you can help protect their habitat.

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1) - They have a wingspan of 3.5 inches.

2) - They migrate to cold weather.

3) - They have black and brown with a little red.