The Ozark Swallowtail (Papilio joanae) is a North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n butterfly

Butterfly

A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...

 species in the family Papilionidae. It was once considered a synonym to the Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes).

Description

The Ozark Swallowtail is almost identical to the Black Swallowtail. Despite this similarity, an analysis of the Ozark Swallowtail's mitochondrial DNA suggests that it is actually more closely related to the Old World Swallowtail (Papilio machaon). On both surfaces of the hind wing, the pupil in the eye spot usually touches the edge of the inner margin. On the underside of the hind wing, the orange spots have very little or no yellow in them.

Distribution

This butterfly is endemic to the Ozark Mountains. It is uncommon to rare in this region.

Life cycle

The caterpillar is indistinguishable from the Black Swallowtail caterpillar but is found in different habitats and prefers different host plants. It has two brood per year.

Host plants

• Thaspium barbinode - Meadow Parsnip
• Taenidia integerrima - Yellow Pimpernel
• Zizia
  Zizia
  Zizia is a genus of flowering plants named after Johann Baptist Ziz , a German botanist from the Rhineland.. Species within this genus include Z. aurea and Z. aptera As typical of plants in the Apiaceae family, plants in this genus bear flowers on distinct umbels ....
  
  sp. - Golden Alexander