12-12-2014, 10:09 AM
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#2
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A Bee's Best Friend
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Chicago Illinois USA
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About the pawpaw being the only host for zebra swallowtails
zebra swallowtail - Eurytides marcellus (Cramer)
Thought I would look into that and here is what I found.
Quote:
The slimleaf pawpaw, Asimina angustifolia Raf. (Annonaceae) is a commonly-used host in central Florida for the zebra swallowtail,
Eurytides marcellus (Cramer).
Smallflower pawpaw, Asimina parviflora (Michx.)Dunal (Annonaceae),also a larval host for the zebra swallowtail, Eurytides marcellus
Common pawpaw, Asimina triloba (L.)Dunal (Annonaceae), is a larval host for the zebra swallowtail , Eurytides marcellus , throughout much of its range
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Blue Ridge Discovery Center blog: Connections: The Pawpaw Tree and the Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly
Quote:
A pair of survivors
The Zebra Swallowtail butterfly and the Common Pawpaw tree have been through a lot together.
If you see one of these distinctive long-tailed butterflies glide past, it's likely there's a pawpaw patch nearby.
The Zebra Swallowtail, Eurytides marcellus, is the only species of the genus Eurytides (the kite swallowtails)
that makes its home in the temperate zones of North America. Other species from this genus live in subtropical zones.
The sole source of food for the Zebra Swallowtail's caterpillars is the foliage, particularly the young leaves,
of trees in the genus Asimina, the pawpaws.
It happens that the Common Pawpaw, Asimina triloba, from the same family (Annonaceae) as the tropical custard apple and cherimoya,
is also the only of the Asimina genus that is able to grow in this region of temperate North America,
suggesting that the Zebra Swallowtails and the pawpaws have been co-evolving here since this region was very different than it is today.
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