Pink-spotted Cattleheart
Parides iphidamas · Butterflies
Pink-spotted Cattleheart
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, 7 February 2026
A Pink-spotted Cattleheart in the butterfly house at Fairchild, a swallowtail of the rainforests of Central and South America, from Mexico to Ecuador, where the caterpillars feed on pipevine and the adults keep its poison.
A swallowtail without much of a tail, and a mimicry story in itself. Cattlehearts are named for the red heart-shaped patch on the hindwing, and unlike most mimics they are the model: the black-and-pink pattern is what a bird learns to leave alone, and several harmless swallowtails in the same forest copy it.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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