Papilio machaon

Hostplant: Hostplants includes plants in the family Apiaceae. In the wild in Norway usually on Angelica sylvestris and A.archangelica. I used the former in my breeding.

Lifecycle and behavior: Female laid eggs easily in captivity, usually on the underside of the leaf. The eggs used 5-6 days to hatch. The larva eats the whole hostplant, even parts of the stem when getting bigger.  The larval stage lasted 16-18 days and they molted 4 times. The pupal stage lasted 12 days. The adult butterfly usually has two generations in Norway with flight periods from late April-May and then again in July-August. The pupa hibernates in autumn. In my breeding a few of the pupa decided to hibernate straight away instead of hatching into a 2nd generation.