Alternative P- machaon foodplants

[Fernando]

Dear people,

I'll probably get my hands on some P. machaon pupae in the future, so I want to know what can I feed them with when I get them.

Here I can get fennel and ruta, but they are rather difficult to find. Any alternative foodplants out there? I thought of celery, but of course I could be wrong.

I'd appreciate any help. Thanks in advance!

[Adam Cotton]

Celery isn't anywhere near as good as fennel or Ruta for small larvae, most of them will die on it, but later instars do well on celery. Alternatively try dill, that is as good as fennel. Parsley, carrot, parsnip and other Apiacea are mostly good; but not all species, machaon will not take coriander for example. Also you could try tarragon if you have it there, as machaon will also eat that.

There is no problem switching larvae from one plant to another, they will swap foodplants without any problem.

Adam.

[starlightcriminal]

Dill is a close relative of fennel, maybe you that? Might work. Things that are fed parsley elsewhere eat fennel here so the reverse might be true. Often the herbs shipped into the local markets have larvae of swallowtail on them, I see a lot of families buying a plant on purpose so they can raise the caterpillar (Black Swallowtail here). Makes me laugh, they have no idea how expensive that one caterpillar will become until it demolishes the entire $3-4 herb pot overnight and then is wandering around looking for more. So that is one consideration if using herbs- are they pre-grown to enough stature that you can support more than a single caterpillar or are they going to be something you have to buy everyday to keep up with their appetites. Foeniculum vulgare gets fairly large here and is permanent (dill does in the northern part of the country) so it is usually a better option than parsley here, but you have to have a reasonably old plant. Might be that carrot or something would work as well, but again these are small herbaceous plants so numbers would be important. Maybe someone else knows something bigger that can be used, I do not.

[starlightcriminal]

lol, same thought at same time.

[Deleted]

I have found that normal everyday carrot tops will feed most ssp of machaon and they are quite happy, for ssp Brittanicus I use potted fennel but I think you will find if you grow plenty of carrots you will be fine, just avoid overcrowding.

[Fernando]

Parsley is very common over here, we've got plenty of it. Maybe I could try that.

Thanks to all of you for the tips, they are very useful. If you have any other advices, let me know!

[Adam Cotton]

Oct 11, 2011 8:13:47 GMT -8 @dunc01226 said:

I have found that normal everyday carrot tops will feed most ssp of machaon and they are quite happy, for ssp Brittanicus I use potted fennel but I think you will find if you grow plenty of carrots you will be fine, just avoid overcrowding.

Overcrowding is only a problem if you keep the larvae in a container. P. machaon larvae are very susceptical to disease in a closed box, probably due to lack of air movement and high humidity from the foodplant.

If you keep them on plants in fresh air you can put many larvae together on one plant without problems. However you must beware of parasitoids and predators, so it is best if they are in a net cage rather than just 'outside'. Also the larvae will often wander away to pupate. I rear machaon in a cage, and enclose the full grown larvae in a chiffon bag to protect them from pupal parasitoids that can get through the netting of the cage and make sure they do not wander away. Here's a photo of such a set-up.

Adam.

PS. The larvae in the bag are 'hybrids' between subspecies, (brevicauda x machaon) male x hippocrates female. The offspring are very nice indeed, half of them are black, similar to polyxenes. I also crossed these with hippocrates again and got larger adults as a result, with the black gene still being expressed in about half of them.

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