1973] 
Young — Parides areas mylotes 
7 
localities, adults, especially males, are frequently seen visiting reced- 
ing mud puddles and moist patches of ground. 
Life cycle and developmental time 
The egg (Fig. 2-A-C) is deep rusty-brown and slightly flattened 
at the base. The diameter is i.i mm and the egg is covered with an 
irregular thick layer of an orange-red sticky substance, which at- 
taches it to the leaf surface and gives the entire surface of the egg 
a rough appearance. This sticky substance forms thin threads which 
hang down from the upper half of the egg and assist in attachment 
(Fig, 2-A). It is not known if the sticky substance is also defensive 
in function, in the sense of discouraging attack by ants and other 
leaf-wandering predatory arthropods. The apical region of the egg 
darkens considerably immediately before hatching. Eggs are gen- 
erally laid on the ventral surface of older leaves and occasionally in 
the crotches of small stems and petioles (Fig. 2-C). The amount 
or thickness of the sticky substance covering the eggs is apparently 
very variable, since other details of egg external morphology, such as 
deep grooves (Fig. 2-B, C) can be seen on some eggs while com- 
pletely obscured on others. Eggs are laid singly but usually in loose 
clusters of 2-5 eggs on a single leaf. 
At La Selva, the natural food plant is tf Aristolochia sp.” (this is 
a new species from northeastern Costa Rica soon to be described by 
H. W. Pfeifer based on my collection of it during March, 1970). 
At Tirimbina, the natural food plant is Aristolochia constricta 
Griseb. Both of these species occur in lowland forest on the Carib- 
bean side of the central Cordillera in Costa Rica. Pfeifer (1966) 
mentions that A. constricta is a forest species found from Costa 
Rica to Panama, the Lesser Antilles, and probably northern South 
America. 
The first instar is about 3.2 mm long when it hatches, and the 
ground color of the body is dark orange-brown. The head is shiny 
black. After the young larva begins to feed on leaf tissue, the body 
ground color becomes a deep wine red. All segments bear long 
tubercles of the same color as the body, but the lateral pair on the 
first segment are orange-white, and this color also characterizes the 
dorsal pairs of tubercles on segments two, seven, ten, and twelve 
(Fig. 2-D ) . The tubercles are fleshy for about one-third their 
length, with the apical two-thirds being stiff and bearing numerous 
tiny black spines (Fig. 2-D). The oSmeterium is bright orange- 
yellow throughout larval life. By the time of the first molt, the larva 
is about 9 mm long. 
