Black Swallowtail Papilio polyxenes

Apparently difficult to get normal photos of this species for me anyway. The most common swallowtail some years in open prairie areas. This is a strongly marked male. Note the heavy upper hindwing yellow. And the subtle blue. Spicebush has much less yellow on the hindwing. And Pipievine has much less yellow anywhere. Boom year for these in 2007. Almost set a record (Norm) for the number counted on a single butterfly count date at Camp Robinson where these can be very common.

This is a fresh female. Note the much more diminished yellow on the upper surfaces. And the subtle blue.

Norm's fresher and brighter male shot. Compare directly with above female. The much rarer and local Ozark Swallowtail supposedly has off centered dots in the orange hind spots. 

Shot of both the big striped late instar and a bird-dropping early instar of the Black Swallowtail. Late cats are unmistakable. The Ozark cat is apparently much greener (I am not sure how? Or even bluish..) 

The pupal case is fairly subtle on the Black. Note the nice sling it makes for the upper portion. This cat came home from a nursery on a parsley plant. Crawled up the front porch bircks when it ate everything it could.

And the freshly eclosed Black exterior with the shell of the pupal case to the right. This may be a female. It is tougher from the exterior to tell the sexes.