#schaus swallowtail

The Schaus (Papilio aristodemus) isn’t the only Swallowtail we find on Elliott Key. We also find Bahamian Swallowtails (1st 2 pics). Bahamians Swallowtails (Papilio andraemon) are found in the Bahamas, Cuba, and the Caymans and considered a stay/ temporary colonist to South Florida. The look similar to the Schaus Swallowtail (2nd 2 pics) and it is hard to tell the difference in flight. This year we have caught many more Schaus than Bahamians leading me to believe we are seeing mostly Schaus. 

The Schaus is endangered and native to Upper Florida Keys. Capture and tagging done for population monitoring through University of Florida. 

The Schaus’ Swallowtail (Papilio aristodemus) is endemic to South Florida and found in tropical hardwood hammocks. The Schaus’ is endangered due to habitat loss and use of pesticides. Currently it is only found on Elliott Key in Biscayne National Park with some sightings near Key Largo. The Schaus’ have one generation a year, adults are usually found in May and June. I had the opportunity to help with population surveys recently and was luckily enough to see these guys in the wild.

The average day here has been walking 8-12 miles along Spite Highway looking for schaus’ swallowtails (Papilio aristodemus). When one is spotted we go in a full sprint toward the butterfly and attempt to catch it in a net. On this week we only had ~10% catch rate. When a butterfly is caught we record the time, location, and sex. Then it is given a number to help estimate the Schaus’ population.

Female and Male Schaus Swallowtails. There is some sexual dimorphism in Schaus, the males (2nd pic) have yellow at the end of their antenna and claspers at the end of their abdomen (used to hold on to the female while mating). 

This species is endangered and native to Upper Florida Keys. Capture and tagging done for population monitoring through University of Florida. 

On a little trail called Spite Highway on Elliot Key. We walk on average 10 miles a day, counting and tagging endangered Schaus’ Swallowtail while being covered in mosquitoes. Here is Schaus no. 50!

This species is endangered and native to Upper Florida Keys. Capture and tagging done for population monitoring through University of Florida. 

Release of Schaus’ Swallowtail # 054.

This species is endangered and native to Upper Florida Keys. Capture and tagging done for population monitoring through University of Florida.   

After capturing a Schaus’ Swallowtail we record it’s location, sex, and time before tagging it. Butterflies are fragile bugs and we don’t want to damage them or get any bug spray on them. To do this you have to take your gloves off and exposure your skin to the millions of mosquitoes on Elliott Key. 

This species is endangered and native to Upper Florida Keys. Capture and tagging done for population monitoring through University of Florida. 

An endangered Schaus’ Swallowtail! This species is found only in South Florida from Elliott Key to northern Key Largo. Habitat loss and use of pesticides are the main reasons for their decline. They Schaus has one generation a year and adults are typically only seen in May and June. This female Schaus is # 041 for the season, captured and tagged as part of population monitoring through the Florida Museum of Natural History.

In this last week we walked 64.1 miles, had 121 sightings, and tagged 29 Schaus.