This is one of the black swallowtail butterflies, with a wingspan of 3½ to 4½ inches. The female has a pair of bright orange spots at the sides of the top surface of the hind wing whereas the male has a pair of orange spots to the rear of the wing.

The caterpillar is about 1½ inches long and darkish green with 2 pairs of large orange eyespots.

The adult spicebush swallowtail is a Batesian mimic of the pipevine swallowtail which has an unpleasant flavor because of the plants the caterpillar feeds on. Birds learn to avoid eating the distasteful pipevine swallowtail and, since they cannot distinguish between the two species, they also avoid the spicebush swallowtail. Adult spicebush swallowtails feed on nectar of ironweed, jewelweed and honeysuckle. The photograph shows the extended proboscis extracting nectar from a ironweed flower. The proboscis is curled up when not in use.