Elm Pageant

The Elm Swallowtail is a butterfly with dark brown wings, with white lines on the back and large, orange spots in the shape of crescents, with a black border around it. The hindwings have a small "tail" with one or two blue spots. The female is slightly larger than the male and also slightly lighter brown. Their wings are only 1.6 cm long.

The Elm Pageant usually lives in places where a few Elms are grouped together. This can be in the forest, but free-standing elms are also suitable, sometimes even in the center of large cities. They like it when there is little wind and a lot of sun near their hometown. They are also quite grounded. They only disperse if they can find elms near their home base.

In the mating season, you can recognize the Elm Pageant by the short, powerful flights around the treetops of the "bridal trees". In territorial flights and fights, they often circle in the air with two or more while spinning, and then return to the bridal tree with a quick flight. In the morning and in the early evening, they occasionally perch on flowers or on damp dirt roads.

Elm Pages lay their eggs on the underside of the buds of the elm, against the wood. They are a bit picky: they only choose buds at the end of the branches on the outside of the crown. The egg, containing the young caterpillar, hibernates. In spring, the caterpillar leaves the eggshell and hides in a flower bud, which it eats. Only then do the caterpillars pupate into butterflies. The young Elm Pages fledge between June and August.

BibBeersel