Pipevine swallowtail butterflies, especially, employ some pretty mind-boggling tricks during their short lives. Take their caterpillar host plant, for example.

It’s a butterfly of exceptional beauty that’s rarely seen in Connecticut. It’s mainly black in color, blending into iridescent blue on top near its wing edges at the rear. The underside is ...

The gorgeous but toxic pipevine swallowtail butterfly could be considered the leader of a pack of dark swallowtails that mimics its appearance over Oklahoma’s gardens and meadows. Its beauty ...

A pipevine swallowtail hangs from the stem of a plant Monday, May 19, 2025 in lower Bidwell Park in Chico, California. (Molly Myers/Enterprise-Record) ...

Pipevine swallowtail butterflies have evolved to consume toxins in pipevine plants. Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images ...

I didn’t see the pipevine swallowtail butterfly (Battus philenor hirsuta); it was probably too early in the season. Eggs from the butterfly are laid on the plant.

Not surprisingly, pipevine swallowtail larvae feed on the native perennial Dutchman’s pipe vine. Many native perennials such as blazing star, Jacob’s ladder, purple coneflower, ironweed and ...

Male pipevine swallowtails are stunning sights, with black wings edged in shimming blue. Females have similar black wings but are instead edged in tiny yellow dots.

First came a female pipevine swallowtail that laid eggs on an Aristolochia plant. Then a cloudless sulfur and a Gulf fritillary fluttered over the flowerbed to find plants for their eggs.