Spicebush Swallowtail Egg

17 years ago

I was working in my garden today, with a small sassafras only inches from me, when I noticed a female spicebush swallowtail fluttering around the little tree. She proceeded to lay an egg about 6" from my face - not modest, huh? I also found two SBST eggs on a nearby leaf, plus stacks of question mark eggs on another leaf! I've seen QM females laying their eggs all around my hops vines, on the fence it grows on, on the pipevine that grows right next to it, but this is the first time I've found any on sassafras! I'll probably go out this evening, cut off the leaf, put it into a water pick, cut all around the leaf so that the where the eggs are is the only part of the leaf left, and then add a tender hops vine leaf for the hatchling QMs to eat. QMs are the goofiest butterflies!

Here's the SBST egg -

{{gwi:445034}}
MissSherry

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Comments (10)

frecklejuice
17 years ago
Love the pic!!!! It is so moving to witness a butterfly lay eggs.

This has got to be a big year for my area SBS. I have found over sixty eggs so far.

Thanks for the pic and being so generous with your knowledge.

Sam
emmayct
17 years ago
Yep, I got a SBST egg yesterday too! My first. I was scoping out an area in a powerline cut while hiking. This beautiful Spicebush female was patrolling like crazy, trying to find something on which to lay eggs. She found a small sassafras clump only about a foot tall. I only found one egg but I know she laid more.

It will be my first attempt at rasing SBST!
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MissSherry
Original Author
17 years ago
Congrats, Mary Ann!
You'll love raising your SBST!
MissSherry
emmayct
17 years ago
I got my dad interested in butterfly rearing too. Just last week he said how cool he thought SBST cats looked. He's so happy to have one to raise! Now I just gotta find some sasafrass by the time it hatches!
emmayct
17 years ago
This week, at the same site, I found two more eggs. One in the same location as the first egg, and one was laid right in front of me.

And thankfully, I found several sasafrass right up the street from me!

Stangely, I remembered them from over 35 years ago when I walked down that street coming home from elementary school. I always thought how cute the little "mitten" leaves looked and what a beautiful shade they turned in the fall. I used to bring them home to iron in wax paper.

Oh OH, now I'm letting on my age! LOL.
MissSherry
Original Author
17 years ago
Hehehe!!
It could be worse, Mary Ann!
I was in elementary school 50 years ago! :(
MissSherry
emmayct
17 years ago
Misssherry, please notice I said, "over 35 years ago." And I refuse to be any more specific than that! LOL.

Anyways, today the first SBST egg that was laid about 12 days ago got dark. I had to drop everything and run up the street before work to cut some sasafrass leaves.

Why do people look at me so strangely when I jump out of my car, grab some leaves and take off?( I was really in a rush.)

Tonight I see he hatched and I now have a teeny-weeny little SBST cat!

I used a stapler to attach the little piece of leaf with the egg to the fresh new leaf.
MissSherry
Original Author
17 years ago
A stapler? Now why didn't I think of that?! And here I've been struggling to line the leaf with the egg on it that I've cut around in the right position so that the hatchling will have some fresh leaf to eat immediately!
MissSherry
emmayct
17 years ago
MissSherry, just be really careful to take into account that the head of the stapler clears the eggs. I really feared that I crushed one...Stapling is a really forceful act.. LOL...

I think that egg is ok...but only time will tell.

My egg that hatched became dark at about 10 am, I stapled the piece to a fresh leaf at 10:15 then went to work. Came home at 6 and couldn't find any sign of the egg. But low and behold, about three inches away, on the tip of the leaf was a tiny cat.

Apparently, he knew very well how to find fresh food.
emmayct
17 years ago
And today when I collected leaves, I found another egg!