Male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly in Flight

by J McCombie

Title

Male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly in Flight

Artist

J McCombie

Medium

Painting - Photographic

Description

The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) is a species of swallowtail butterfly native to eastern North America. Along with the Monarch, it is one of the most familiar and recognizable butterflies in the eastern United States, where it is common in many different habitats. It flies from spring to fall, during which it produces two to three broods. Adults feed on the nectar of many species of flowers, both wild native plants and garden flowers. Some of those flowers include milkweed, thistles, Japanese Honeysuckle, Ironweed, and Red Clover. ... mostly from those of the Apocynaceae, Asteraceae, and Fabaceae families. P. glaucus has a wingspan measuring 7.9 to 14 cm (3.1 to 5.5 in). Its common name is very appropriate, with the bold black tiger stripes over the yellow ground colour. It has a narrow blackband along the inner hindwing margin. The male is yellow with four black "tiger stripes" on each fore wing and a few orange and blue spots near the tail. Females have both a light and dark form and may be either yellow or black, making them dimorphic. The yellow morph is similar to the male, but with a conspicuous band of blue spots along the hindwing, while the dark morph still has the blue spots, but is otherwise almost completely black with no yellow.
The green eggs are laid singly on plants of the Magnoliaceae and Rosaceae families. Young caterpillars are brown and white; older ones are green with two black, yellow, and blue eyespots on the thorax. The caterpillar will turn brown prior to pupating. It will reach a length of 5.5 centimetres (2.2 in). The chrysalis varies from a whitish color to dark brown. Hibernation occurs in this stage in locations with cold winter months.
This butterfly has many bird predators. Other animals will eat caterpillars, including squirrels, Raccoons, and shrews.
This species was probably the first butterfly in North America to be described by Europeans. It was figured by John White, one of the early colonists in Virginia. The black female form with slightly darker stripes is rarely encountered in southern Ontario, most often at Point Pelee. Subspecies: Only the nominate subspecies is found in Canada now that Canadian Tiger Swallowtail (P. canadensis) is treated as a separate species. Range: The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is widespread throughout the eastern U.S. It reaches into Canada only in southern Ontario north to the Bruce Peninsula, the Rideau Lakes and Grenville County in eastern Ontario. Reports of this species from Nova Scotia are based on several accidentally mislabelled specimens in the Canadian National Collection in Ottawa. These specimens emerged in Truro from pupae brought from Illinois.

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July 24th, 2016

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