Esper, 1800
Southern Swallowtail
Description:
The Southern Swallowtail is mostly found on warm, dry calcareous slopes with a flower-rich vegetation and low-growing bushes. They prefer slopes that are steep and rocky. At noon, when the day is at its hottest, they are especially active, flying around a lot.
Different food plants are known, all of them umbellifers. Ptychotis saxifraga is the most important one in the western part of its range, but eggs are also laid on Opopanax chironium, Seseli montanum, and Trinia glauca. In the Eastern part, the caterpillars feed mostly on various of fennels (Ferula spp.), and also on Opopanax hispidus, Burnet saxifrage (Pimpinella saxifraga), Scaligeria cretica, and Wild Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa). The caterpillars eat the flowers and ripening seeds. They seem to prefer plants growing in very sparse vegetation near bare patches.
The Southern Swallowtail is single-brooded and passes the winter in the chrysalis stage.
Habitat:
Heath and shrub
Phrygana vegetation
Sclerophyllous scrub
Similar species:
Leptidea duponcheli
Leptidea morsei