I spotted lots of Zebra Swallowtail butterflies (Eurytides marcellus) on Tuesday (9 June) during a visit to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. It was pretty difficult, though, to get a shot of one, because they were constantly in motion. I chased after a number of them and finally one landed for a moment. Trying to control my breathing, I waited for the butterfly to open its wings fully and finally I managed to capture this image.
I couldn’t help but notice that one of the “tails” was considerably shorter than the other one. At first I wondered if the shorter tail was the result of a predator trying to grab the butterfly by the “tail.” When I looked closely, though, the cut seemed to be so clean, so I considered the possibility that the butterfly emerged from its chrysalis with this deformity. Whatever the case, the unequal sized tails did not seem to affect the butterfly’s ability to fly.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Spectacular!
Thanks, Michael.
You’re welcome.
A differently-abled butterfly allows nothing to prevent his flying! Yet again your magnificent photo and informative commentary takes me down Memory Lane! I shall attempt to limit myself to just one reply today instead of the two lengthy ones of yesterday. Many years ago as Benjamin and I were adventuring, we came across a Chrysalis on a shrub. He examined it from every angle possible for several minutes. Then he said : “Gem, I wish this had a window so I could watch the caterpillar changing into a butterfly.” I was so amazed that I wrote that down to share with the family! In 1739 Benjamin Franklin wrote in Poor Richard’s Almanack : “What is a butterfly? At best / He’s but a caterpillar drest.” Thank-you, Mr. Mike!!
It is always exciting to see that I have a message from you, because those messages never cease to brighten my days. I completely agree with Benjamin that it would be cool to be able to watch the metamorphosis that is taking place inside of a chrysalis. My beloved dragonflies undergo an equally amazing transformation in the open that takes place when they crawl out of the water and break out of their exoskeletons. You have to be really lucky to be able to see that process and I have witnessed the compete process only once. You may remember this posting from 10 years ago. It’s not quite the window that Benjamin was seeking, but it’s pretty close to one, at least for this Common Sanddragon dragonfly. (https://michaelqpowell.com/2016/06/08/metamorphosis-of-a-dragonfly/)
Gorgeous 💯 loved it.