Two-tailed Tiger Swallowtail

This very beautiful female emerged on December 17th 2015 after 5 months in pupation inside the house. I actually think she emerged too early because of the warmer winter this year and from being inside the house. The Fresno trees the larva was found near do not flower until May. The final larval stage was found on 13 August 2015 wandering about on the lawn below a Fresno Tree in a rural garden. It pupated on the 17th of August. The larva was a reddish-brown in color with large yellow false eye spots on the thorax. In the 3rd picture you can see the orange Osmeterium. This is an organ that is found in all the Papilionidae and is normally inside the body. It is everted suddenly if the larva feels threatened. The osmeterium emits a foul chemical odor repellent to predators and also makes the larva look very snake-like with a false forked tongue along with the large false eyes on the thorax. To pupate, the larva attached to a stick by the anal pseudopods and built its silk restraining cord visible in the 5th picture. The larval skin was shed from beneath the silk cord, revealing the pupa which became brown and resembled a piece of dry bark.