Here are some updates of my black swallowtail caterpillar. It has changed a lot since my last post.
After shedding its skin it went from black, to white with black stripes.
Joshua wanted to hold the caterpillar so I tried to take it of it's food plant. That was a bad idea. It got angry with me and quickly revealed its orange osmeterium from its head. I have never smelled a smell like it! It was like a skunk spray, but with a unique smell. Joshua was able to hold the caterpillar, but he learned not to make it mad!
On the rear end of black swallowtail caterpillars you can see a strange pattern that looks like a face! They use this pattern to scare off predators.
Out in my garden box a black swallowtail butterfly has been busy laying eggs on my parsley. I counted about 75 caterpillars! It was very hard to count them since there were so many. Here is a picture of one leaf covered in caterpillars. The small black creatures are the caterpillars. If those caterpillars use their smelly osmeterium on predators I will end up with a lot of caterpillars on one food plant.
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