Subject: Giant Swallowtail in NH?
Location: Francestown, NH
August 6, 2012 9:05 pm
I saw this butterfly the other day and I don’t remember seeing this around before. Looks like a Giant swallowtail from other pictures I’ve seen.
Is it unusual for this to be found here in Southern NH? Was wondering if it was due to the rediculously warm winter or if it’s just a random thing.
Signature: Alf
Hi Alf,
This certainly is a Giant Swallowtail. Though southern sightings are more common, northern sightings do occur. BugGuide has received submissions of Giant Swallowtails from New York, Massachusetts and Ontario. Prior to the introduction of citrus crops in the south, the native larval food source was the common pricklyash, Zanthoxylum americanum, as well as the common hoptree, Ptelea trifoliata. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Plant Database has a map of the range of the common hoptree and it stretches considerably further north than New Hampshire. The USDA website has a similar map for the common pricklyash. BugGuide also states that Giant Swallowtails can stray as far north as “Nova Scotia, Quebec, Manitoba, and North Dakota.” The common hoptree and common pricklyash are not found in Arizona or California, however, the range of the Giant Swallowtail has expanded to the west coast thanks to the cultivation of citrus. The caterpillars of the Giant Swallowtail are commonly called Orange Dogs.
wow, 7 years and 2 months later and we finally saw an Orange Dog in the garden, amazing!
We are glad you located your old submission and posted this update on Giant Swallowtails in your garden. We are guessing the Orange Dog was not feeding on citrus in Hew Hampshire. BugGuide lists food plants as: “Larvae feed on leaves of plants in the Citrus family (Rutaceae), including Citrus (Citrus spp.), Pricklyash (Zanthoxylum spp.), Hoptree (Ptelea trifoliata), Rue (Ruta graveolens), etc.” On what plant was your individual feeding?
Gas plant, (Dictamnus albus)
There were at least half a dozen on the plant of very different sizes.
Curious to know if this is common or otherwise.
Gas plant, (Dictamnus albus)
There were at least half a dozen on the plant of very different sizes.
Curious to know if this is common or otherwise.