Parides Arcas, or parides eurimedes

Arcas Cattleheart Butterfly  (Parides Arcas, or parides eurimedes)

Phylum — arthropoda
Class — insecta
Order — lepidoptera
Family — papilionidae

Genus – parides

Appearance

The caterpillars are brown in color with thick outgrowths, some of them are colored light yellow.

Male and female are primarily black with red patch on hindwing. Both sexes lack tails. Upper surface of male forewing has triangular blue-green patch, female has white patch. Wing Span: 3-3 ½ inches (7 - 8.5 cm.).

Habitat

Parides eurimedes is found in the Neotropical realm from Mexico to northern South America, where it is commonly found in tropical forests.

Behavior

It demonstrates daily activity. Butterflies are poisonous, because the caterpillars accumulate poison from forage plants.

Like other caterpillars of this family, the caterpillars of this butterfly have an osmetrium – a gland behind the head that extends in danger and looks like two long brightly colored "horns".

Flight – in March-November.

Diet

Host plants include Aristolochia grandiflora, A. nummularfolia, A. odoratissima, A. pilosa, and A. tonduzii. Butterflies feed on nectar.

Reproduction

For their reproduction you need a terrarium with a size of 50 x 50 x 70 cm. Females lay eggs on the leaves of the forage plant. It is better to keep the caterpillars in containers with a mesh lid of 6-8 pieces. In the container, you need to place a forage plant. The temperature is 23-25 ^oC at the humidity of 60-70%. The pupae are green with large spots of a lighter shade and small horns at the anterior end. The pupa stage lasts for 2-3 weeks. The butterfly lives 5-8 days.

In captivity

The mesh terrarium with a size of 50 × 50 × 70 mm is suitable for keeping butterflies. Room temperature is necessary. Daylight time is 12 hours. You can feed the butterflies with honey syrup diluted with boiled water in a ratio of 1: 10.