Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 33, 1 by mellielong

mellielong wrote:
Nope, that would be a Polydamas. And it looks like she wants to lay eggs on your pipevine (their host plant). Send her my way! Polydamas have just the one yellow line shaped like a U across their wings. I think they're the plainest swallowtail I see. Some people call them "Gold Rim" STs; I guess because of how the line arcs around the "rim" of their wings.

Here's a top view of my crescent. We get the Phaeon and the Pearl Crescent here and I can never tell them apart.

Edited to say:
According to my book, that cream colored band on the top of the wing means it's a Phaeon. Since I see that they use frogfruit as a host, that totally explains why they're hanging out in my neighborhood.

Melanie

This message was edited Apr 5, 2008 5:48 PM