I have never seen a butterfly like this. Sadly, the batteries needed charging and the photos are blurred. I hope to see it again and hope to be better prepared.
The antenna were red and there was a brilliant red spot at the base of the body. It had a most unusual shape and pattern to the wings.
It is a zebra swallow tail. Google and you will see.
Thank you for the direction. I will go look...
Oh, I am glad to know the proper name. These come to my yard relatively often and I have been mistakenly calling them tiger stripes. They are very distinctive. Last summer's lantana (dallas red) drew them up to the porch.
And that is the correct ID! Thanks so much Steadycam3.
The wing tips on this guy were oddly shaped and I see one of the photos is the Google search was the same. Wondering why... and wishing my grandgirls were here to see this one. Very cool! Kristi
The wings are shaped differently because the Zebra ST belongs to the family of swallowtails known as kite swallowtails (shaped like kites). The Zebra ST is the only kite swallowtail in North America. They use pawpaw as a host so if you have pawpaws around you'll likely see these guys.
Melanie
No Pawpaws that I am aware of. Yesterday afternoon, it was all over the coneflowers.
I noticed some of the Zebra swallowtail photos that I had googled didn't have that pronounced a wing shape.
Thanks for the information on the 'kite' swallowtail. That is an apt description.
That shape is what befuddled me. I wondered if it might be a type of moth.
