Black Swallowtail is a Trickster!
What? Did that caterpillar just shoot a crazy tongue...THING, out at me?!? Is it a snake?! No, it is the osmeterium of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillar. What a strange defense, these caterpillars can inflate and rapidly shoot out their “osmeterium” in order to fool predators into thinking the caterpillar is a snake. The osmeterium is a defensive organ found in all members of the papilionid larva or caterpillars. It looks just like a yellow snake tongue, but it also smells….bad. #buterflies
#strangecreatures #swallowtailbutterfly