Guenée, 1839
Corsican Swallowtail
Description:
The Corsican Swallowtail is a butterfly of open, grassy slopes, often with some scattered rocks and bushes, and of slopes with low-growing scrub. Just as the Swallowtail, P. machaon, these butterflies show hill-topping behaviour, the males assembling on hilltops or other prominent features in the landscape, waiting for the females to arrive.
In Corsica, they are found on three different food plants, Giant Fennel (Ferula communis), Ruta corsica, and Peucedanum paniculatum, different populations being strictly bound to one type of food plant. However, in Sardinia, the caterpillars are only found on Giant Fennel (Ferula communis).
The Corsican Swallowtail has one generation a year and hibernates in the pupal stage.
Habitat:
Alpine grasslands
Dry siliceous grasslands
Dry calcareous grasslands
Heath and shrub
Phrygana vegetation
Sclerophyllous scrub
Similar species:
Papilio machaon
Iphiclides podalirius