The SE wind has really ramped up the past two days and with all the rain down in Mexico for the last month, I've been expecting some good butterflies to blow to the north. We've already had two Falcate Skippers! So after being busy in the house this morning, I decided to make rounds of the yard and the first thing I saw was the Polydamas Swallowtail hanging out of the wind below a papaya tree. I got up close and started taking photos and noticed it had a semicircle of red spots on the under side of the hind wing but lacked the red spots on its body. Then I got a view a subterminal band of blue spots on the upper side of the hind wing and I was confused. Female Ornythion? Time to run inside and check the book. Even better.......female Broad-banded Swallowtail! It's been a while since one has been reported in the RGV and I don't even remember ever chasing after one. Valley lifer #214 and yard butterfly #122.
Here's the Polydamas Swallowtail I saw yesterday.
And a Western Giant Swallowtail just for fun.
I think Broad-banded Swallowtail was much more common in the past. I'm hoping the female oviposited on some of the members of the family Rutaceae growing in our yard like Texas Torchwood and Colima before the wind carried it away.
