Battus is a genus of butterflies that are usually found around pipevine (genus Aristolochia) plants. The caterpillars feed off the poisonous pipevines, making the insects poisonous themselves; they taste very bad to ward off predators (Pinheiro 1996). Since birds avoid these butterflies, other swallowtail species mimic their coloration. The common North American species are Battus polydamas and Battus philenor.
Pinheiro, Carlos E. G. (1996): Palatablility and escaping ability in Neotropical butterflies: tests with wild kingbirds (Tyrannus melancholicus, Tyrannidae). Biol. J. Linn. Soc.59(4): 351?365. HTML abstract
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