Beautiful and Distasteful

I'm beginning to see more Pipevine Swallowtail, aka Blue Swallowtail, butterflies in our yard. The one in my photo is visiting a native Firebush, Hamelia patens. These beautiful pollinators rely on plants in the Aristolochia genus as their host plants. Virginia snakeroot, Woolly Dutchman's pipe and Marsh's Dutchman's pipe are necessary for their caterpillars' development. These native vines contain aristolochic acid which is a poison that the caterpillars safely consume. The poison remains in the butterfly's body throughout its life and the Pipevine Swallowtail's bright colors warn birds and predatory wasps of their toxicity. The Spicebush swallowtail and the Eastern black swallowtail mimic the Pipevine's colors, trying to look distasteful to their predators.