An anise swallowtail chrysalis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

An anise swallowtail caterpillar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

And she's beautiful!

It all began with finding two anise swallowtail chrysalids clinging last July to the fennel stems in our pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif.

To protect them from predators and the elements, we tucked them inside a zippered net butterfly habitat and placed “the prized package” in the corner of a laundry room to await the spring of 2018--and eclosure.

The first day of spring, March 20, came and went. Then 288 days slipped by. The chrysalids remained intact. Were they viable?

We showed images of the chrysalids to butterfly guru Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis, who's been researching the butterfly population of central California for more than four decades. 

“They both look OK—the intersegmental membranes are not showing,” he said. “Stick them in the refrigerator for a month and try again. If they are a coast range population, some may diapause up to 5 years. If a valley population, multiyear diapause is very unusual.”

Shapiro advised that we “put them in a lidded container” to prevent their drying out. “Diapausing pupae only breathe once or twice a day.”

So, on June 5, in the refrigerator they went, joining assorted cups of yogurt, bags of fruits and vegetables, jars of peanut butter, cartons of fat-free milk and what-have-you.

What a life!

Then on July 4, Independence Day (but with no fanfare, ceremony or celebration) out they came. (The yogurt, fruits and vegetables, peanut butter, milk and what-have-you stayed behind.)

We placed the (probably) thoroughly confused chrysalids back in the butterfly habitat, but this time, outdoors, and right next to their host plant, fennel. Daytime temperatures climbed to 100 degrees and night temperatures dropped into the 50s.

Nothing happened. Nothing.

Just as we were wondering if they were still viable, we saw a winged burst of yellow, black and blue on Sunday night, July 14. A long-awaited eclosure!

It's a girl! (as identified by Professor Shapiro). (Read more about the anise swallowtail, Papilio zelicaon, on his website.)

Early Monday morning, we dipped a fennel blossom into a mixture of 10 parts water and one part honey. Food! She drank heartily. Then we placed her atop the towering fennel so she could warm her flight muscles.

Two hours later, Ms. Anise Swallowtail became part of the Wonderful World of Butterflies. She circled the house, returned to nectar on the Mexican sunflower (Tithonia), and left. No fanfare, no ceremony, no celebration. This is her world now.

The other chrysalis? It remains intact. Fingers crossed that it, too, will survive.

It doesn't get much better than this--in a world where kindness matters.  It always has.

This is sweet fennel or anise, Foeniculum vulgare, host plant of the anise swallowtails. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It's a bird! It's a plane! Is it Superman?

No, it's a bird dropping.

If you're growing sweet fennel (anise), you may have noticed what appear to be two species of swallowtail butterflies populating your plant.

You'll see larvae (caterpillars) that are pale green with black bands containing orange spots. But look more closely and you'll see the smaller larvae or early instars. They look like bird droppings. A gift from above?

Those are both the immature stages of the anise swallowtail, Papillo zelicaon, (Check out the beautiful images of the butterfly and its immature stages on the Natural History of Orange County website.)

Butterfly guru Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology, says the anise swallowtails have several generations (late February or March-October) "and breed very largely on sweet fennel (anise), Foeniculum vulgare and in the first half of the season, poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum)." 

These are naturalized European weeds, he says on his website.  "We believe this ecotype originally lived in the tule marshes and bred on water hemlock (Cicuta) and another Apiaceous plant named Oenanthe. These are still used but only rarely in comparison ot he weeds; they are the only native hosts available in the Mediterranean summer that could have sustained repeated breeding."

Colors of the iconic anise swallowtail caterpillars also differ.  "In hot, dry sites there is more green and less black, while under cool, humid conditions, the green may even disappear!" Shapiro says. And the pupae (chrysalids) may be brown or green.

Meanwhile, our caterpillars are feasting on the fennel and shedding their protective, camouflaged "bird dropping" skin.  The California scrubjays that dine on the Gulf Fritillary caterpillars on the nearby passionflower vine (Passilfora) don't seem to notice.

Here's hoping they won't touch the anise swallowtails. Why would they want to eat something that looks like bird poo?

The Anise Swallowtail, Papilio zelicaon, fluttered into our pollinator garden and headed straight for the Verbena.

Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis, identified the gender: "it's a girl."

The Anise Swallowtail, our first sighting of the season, bypassed the butterfly bush, Buddleia davidii.

But she'll be back--hopefully to gather some more nectar and lay her eggs on our fennel.

The Verbena patch was a little too populated for her liking--honey bees and yellow-faced bumble bees, Bombus vosnesenskii, wanted their share of the nectar, too.

"The Anise Swallowtail is a complex set of ecological races, or 'ecotypes,' whose seasonality has been adjusted by natural selection to match that of their host plants," says Shapiro on his research website. He's studied butterfly populations in central California since 1972.

"In multivoltine populations the spring brood is typically small, pale, heavily marked with blue and with narrow dark borders on all wings. Summer individuals are larger, with richer yellow color, broader black borders and little or no blue in males. Univoltine populations tend to be intermediate between these extremes. The small larvae resemble bird droppings. Large larvae are pale green with black bands containing orange spots; in hot, dry sites there is more green and less black, while under cool, humid conditions the green may even disappear! The pupae may be brown or green."

Read more about the swallowtail, including its food sources, on Shapiro's web page.

Meanwhile, whether you see your first Anise Swallowtail of the season or the last of the season, you'll want to see more of this yellow-mellow butterfly!

It suits them to a "T."

And the "T" is for Tithonia.

Many species of butterflies frequent our Tithonia, also known as Mexican sunflower. Like its name implies, it's a member of the sunflower family, Asteraceae.

On any given Sunday--not to mention the other days of the week--the butterflies descend on the Mexican sunflower for a quick burst of nectar. Some stay longer than others, often depending on whether the territorial male sunflower bees (Melissodes and Svastra) are engaging in target practice.

Meet the Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae).

Meet the Anise Swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon).

Meet the Monarch (Danaus plexippus).

Meet the skipper (family Hesperiidae).

The Tithonia belongs in every bee garden!

For more information about butterflies in California's central valley, be sure to check out the butterfly website of Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis.