Swallowtail Papilio machaon Larvae

basquesteve · #1 (**permalink**) 30-03-2010, 02:35 PM

I thought you may be interested to see the caterpillars osmeterium,a soft fleshy orange coloured forked organ normally concealed,when the caterpillar is threatened it is suddenly erected emitting a powerful offensive odour

Jason Green · #2 (**permalink**) 30-03-2010, 02:43 PM

Afternoon Steve, and welcome to WAB!

Great shots - one I have yet to see. I see from your posts in the Image Archive that you are into invertebrates - you'll love this active entomology section! It will get even busier in the coming months as Spring/Summer gets underway.

Take care,

Jason

Lance Morgan · #3 (**permalink**) 30-03-2010, 02:54 PM

Having bred this species many times I can honestly say that I don't find the odour offensive

basquesteve · #4 (**permalink**) 30-03-2010, 03:19 PM

Thanks for your kind comments, I'm not sure how much I can participate in your forum as you can see I am not in Britain. I think I must be very careful making any posts and only participate on British species and within your seasons. Many of you wild life species are more common here and emerged much earlier I have a large collection of invertebrates photographs mostly taken in the garden and would like to share them as appropriate
Regards
Steve