Last week I had a picture of a dark form of the eastern tiger swallowtail with my column. The obvious question about any species with more than one color form is: What is the advantage? The advantage ...

If the Garden State were to gather together its official plants and animals, what an incredible assemblage it would be. Eastern goldfinches flitting in the branches of a red oak tree, violets growing ...

About 170 butterfly species occur in North Carolina as permanent residents, regular visitors, or rare strays. Some of these are restricted to either the coastal or mountain regions. I'd estimate that ...

An eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly sips nectar from John Fanick phlox. The swallowtail butterfly family contains up to 700 species in the world, most of them tropical. More than two dozen are ...

We have a large patch of bronze fennel growing out back — this is unfortunate because it can be an aggressive invasive plant and is currently attempting to overrun my blueberry patch, but, on the ...

The female spicebush swallowtail butterfly was fluttering down, landing for a moment or two on a leaf on my sassafras tree and moving on to do the same thing on other leaves over and over again. It ...

East Texas is home to a wide array of fascinating wildlife, including the giant swallowtail butterfly. Known for its impressive size and striking appearance, this butterfly is a frequent visitor to ...

Michigan is one of the only states in the country without an official state insect, but that could soon change. The black swallowtail butterfly, scientifically known as the papilio polyxenes, would be ...

On a wooded hillside along the banks of the Allegheny River, Gabrielle Marsden brushed up against an oblong leaf: Asimina triloba—the American pawpaw. The deciduous tree bears North America's largest ...

A warning has sounded for yet another butterfly group–the swallowtails, regarded as the world`s most beautiful insects. There are 573 kinds and 78 of them face extinction, say two British scientists, ...

I was excited to have Monarch caterpillars, even though they were chomping away on my fennel, but then this gorgeous number emerged from the chrysalis! Seems to be a black swallowtail. I’m a little ...