Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1505659
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM AUGUST 16 - 22, 2023 UCW 19 CYNTHIA ROSS, Personal Trainer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com 910-484-6200. Last year I noticed tiny black specks on my parsley and wondered what they were. Within several days those specs became tiny parsley works known as a soon-to-be Black Swallow- tail butterfly. Not knowing what to do I was on a quest to see them through metamor- phosis. ey are ravenous eaters, and they grow before spinning cocoons and going into the metamorphosis stage and will eat all available parsley down to the stem. I ordered a collaps- ible butterfly house which was an in- expensive stand-up mesh house with a zipper. By the time I was in receipt of the house, the birds had helped themselves to most of them and only one ended up hatching. I was prepared this year and my large container of parsley is sitting in the mesh house. I covered the top with an old shirt during the day because of the sun. ey are growing quickly and devouring the parsley. If you are interested in watching them through the metamorphosis to flight it would be a great project for you or your children. Swallowtail butterflies are in the family of Papilionidae and include over 550 species. ey are large but- terflies with colorful wings, patterned with black and yellow or black and white. e distinctive tail is thin and elongated and they have large eyes. It has a wingspan of 2.7 to 4 inches. e black swallowtail can be found in Canada south to Florida, Costa Rica, the Rocky Mountains, eastern Arizona, Mexico and Peru. eir habitat includes sea level, mountains, fields, meadows, deserts, marshes, lakes, streams, farms, cities and our backyard. ey are seen in the south from May until October and in some areas from February to November. ey fly quickly and close to the ground and in cold weather they hold their abdo- mens above their wings to keep warm. Black Swallowtails usually live 10 to 12 days; in some cases they have lived 35 to 45 days. ey have two broods per year. e number of eggs laid can range from 100 to 300, some species a few dozen and others 1,000 eggs or more. e black swallowtail goes through complete metamorphosis. e male forms the territory for mating pur- poses. e female searches out the male and a successful courtship lasts about 40 seconds; however, the mat- ing ritual can last up to 45 minutes. Females that are uninterested will escape by flying high in the air and downward. e females fly close to the ground to look for host plants, such as my parsley. ere are not any nests made and the eggs are laid on the host plant. e young caterpillar emerges with a white spot in the middle of the body which resembles a bird dropping. As they grow, they turn green with red bands. It has a special defense mechanism called an osmeterium — an organ that emits a foul smell to scare predators away when they are threatened. ey form a cocoon called a chrysa- lis which hangs upright and is light or dark brown. A silk thread that holds the chrysalis is called a girdle. It takes 7 to 10 days for the larvae to become chrysalides and 7 to 10 days for the butterflies to emerge from the chry- salides. e caterpillar's old body dies inside the chrysalis and the new body emerges with beautiful wings in a two- week time span. is transformation brings us beau- tiful butterflies. Transformation is the subject of poems, literature and is the very nature of life and rebirth. Live, love life and butterflies! Backyards, gardens can help increase butterfly population by CYNTHIA ROSS Gates open: 5:30 Food By: rivermist 7:30-10:00 Food, Drinks, dancing, Fun, door Prizes! All American Homes FREE CONCERT! september 1 st At the pavilion Presents 2023 Westwood • Fort Liberty • Hope Mills B r i n g y o u r l a w n c h a i r s - V I P Ta b l e s A v a i l a b l e rolling tacos & pupusas *VIP Pavilion Table Seating is Available: - $25 vip table seating in pavilion - $40 vip table in pavilion w/ beer, wine & beverages included Tickets: www.fayettevilledinnertheatre.com Full-Service indoor bar available with all ABC permits, Patio seating, and Indoor Restrooms Rivermist HOME & GARDEN e Eastern Black Swallowtail by J.R. Baker, courtesy of NC State Extension.