In order to look at phenotypic differences in early stages and adults from different populations one can capture adult females, which is relatively easy at puddles at about mid-mornings. Females are then enticed to lay eggs. For enticing females to lay it is nice to have potted LFPs.

Two Indra Swallowtails puddling

Potted LFPs

Environmental chambers are nice also, especially when the sun does not cooperate.

Adult females in an environmental chamber

However, the best way to find the butterfly in order to delineate populations is to find the LFP and then search for early stages. For this I use herbarium records and search for larvae at these sites.

Mr. Haney searching for larvae on Lomatium graveolens in the Wasatch Range, UT

Indra females prefer to oviposit on the side of a plant nearest rocks, so looking for LFPs growing amongst rocks is best. Here's a plant growing in a great looking situation in a crevice of Navajo Sandstone.

Indra host plant growing in rock crevice N of Moab.

Frequently if you look closely at a good plant you can see the "tell-tale signs" of Indra Swallowtail presence.

A spiked , or "caterpickled" plant resulting from feeding by 4th and 5th instars.

Two 5th instars hiding in a typical manner

Two 5th instars hiding (closer shot)

And sometimes, if you're lucky, you may find a 5^th instar feeding near the top of the larval host plant.

P. i. minori 5th instar feeding in the wild on L. parryi.

5th instar of P. i. minori resting in open.

Another 5th instar resting in open.

A plant with rocks placed around it.

For rearing of larvae, I use an aquarium method, placing fresh LFP in bottles of water.

Aquariums on table used to rear indra larvae

5th instars on Lomatium parryi in an aquarium

Various instars on Lomatium parryi in an aquarium.

Water is replenished by refilling water bottles with a syringe.

Lunch bags containing pre-pupation wandering larvae and emergence box containing a recently enclosed adult.

In order to get desert populations of Indra to emerge it is useful to artificially raise the humidity.

Pupae in wet sand-filled aquarium to control humidity level.

I feel that if one wants to know the biology of a butterfly, they need to know the biology of its LFPs-- for example, when and where they grow, their soil requirements and other environmental requirements. To gain insights into the evolutionary history of a lepidopteran one should know the ranges and distributions of its LFPs, because they have likely played a major role in the evolutionary patterns of the species. With 12 Indra subspecies and others pending, I feel this is important. Lets now turn to the LFPs used by Indra Swallowtail butterflies.