''Papilio joanae'', the Ozark swallowtail, is a North American

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

species in the family

Papilionidae Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies in the family Papilionidae, and include over 550 species. Though the majority are tropical, members of the family inhabit every continent except Antarctica. The family includes the larges ...

.Jim P. Brock and Kenn Kaufman (2003). ''Butterflies of North America.'' Houghton Mifflin, New York, NY. It was once considered a synonym of the black swallowtail (''

Papilio polyxenes ''Papilio polyxenes'', the (eastern) black swallowtail, American swallowtail or parsnip swallowtail, is a butterfly found throughout much of North America. It is the state butterfly of Oklahoma and New Jersey. An extremely similar-appearing spec ...

'').James A. Scott (1986). ''The Butterflies of North America.'' Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA.

Description

The Ozark swallowtail is almost identical to the black swallowtail. Despite this similarity, an analysis of the Ozark swallowtail's

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...

suggests that it is actually more closely related to the Old World swallowtail (''

Papilio machaon ''Papilio machaon'', the Old World swallowtail, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. The butterfly is also known as the common yellow swallowtail or simply the swallowtail (a common name applied to all members of the family, but this speci ...

'').Jeffrey Glassberg (1999). ''Butterflies through Binoculars: The East.'' Oxford University Press, New York, NY. On both surfaces of the hindwing, the pupil in the eyespot usually touches the edge of the inner margin. On the underside of the hindwing, the orange spots have very little or no yellow in them. The black adult color pattern characterizing ''P. polyxenes'' is presumed to be inherited as a simple autosomal dominant

Distribution

This butterfly is endemic to the

Ozark Mountains The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant portio ...

in the United States. It is uncommon to rare in this region.

Flight

The Ozark swallowtail is seen from April to September.

Habitat

''P. joanae'' is found in cedar glades and woodland habitats.Thomas J. Allan, Jim P. Brock, and Jeffrey Glassberg (2005). ''Caterpillars in the Field and Garden.'' Oxford University Press, New York, NY.

Life cycle

The caterpillar is morphologically very similar to the black swallowtail caterpillar. The two species may be more easily distinguished by the habitat and host plants upon which the caterpillar feeds, as these differ. There are two broods per year.

Host plants

* '' Thaspium barbinode'' - meadow parsnip * '' Taenidia integerrima'' - yellow pimpernel * ''

Zizia aurea ''Zizia aurea'' (golden alexanders, golden zizia) is a flowering herbaceous perennial plant of the carrot family Apiaceae. It is native to eastern Canada and the United States, from the eastern Great Plains to the Atlantic Coast. It is named f ...

'' - golden alexander

References

j Butterflies of North America Butterflies described in 1973 {{papilionidae-stub