Zebra Swallowtail
Eurytides marcellus

Size:
Wingspan is 2 1/2 - 4 inches.

Similar Species:
None in the eastern US.

Habitat:
Woodlands, power line cuts, moist forests, swamps and along waterways.

Range/Abundance:
Common to uncommon in the coastal plain and uncommon in the piedmont and mountains.

Flight Period:
Adults fly from early April until early October in two or three broods with gaps between broods.

Larval Host Plants:
Pawpaws Asimina triloba and Asimina parviflora.

Comments:
The newspaper like coloring of this swallowtail makes it easy to ID even from a distance. This swallowtail has longer tails that the other swallowtails.

Pettigrew State Park in NC is usually swarming with Zebra Swallowtails. In fact it's not uncommon to find more than 500 of them along the ditches filled with Buttonbush Cephalanthus occidentalis when in bloom. In midsummer they can be uncommon on the Virginia section of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and then only under 3000 feet elevation and the in the swamps of the coastal plains in the Carolinas.

The top photo above was taken in the Caswell Gamelands in NC on June 01, 2000. The second photo was taken along Catawba Creek in Botetourt Co., VA on April 24, 2003. The third photo was taken in Caswell Co., NC on June 10, 2003. The bottom photo was taken by Bob Moul in PA.

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