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Eastern tiger swallowtail
Male (see gallery for female)
Conservation status
NE
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Lepidoptera Family: Papilionidae Genus: Papilio Species: P. glaucus
Binomial name
Papilio glaucus Linnaeus, 1758

The Eastern tiger swallowtail, Papilio glaucus, is a large (12 cm wingspan) swallowtail butterfly. It is found in the Eastern United States, as far north as southern Vermont, and as far West as extreme Eastern Colorado. It flies from spring through fall, and most of the year in the southern portions of its range, where it may produce two or three broods a year. In the Appalachian region, it is replaced by the closely-related and only recently described larger-sized Papilio appalachiensis, and in the north, it is replaced by the closely-related Papilio canadensis. These three species can be very difficult to distinguish, and were formerly all considered to be a single species.

Black form female

Yellow form female

Adult males are yellow, with four black "tiger stripes" on each fore wing. The trailing edges of the fore and hind wings are black which is broken with yellow spots. On the medial margin of the hind wing next to the abdomen there are small red and blue spots.

There are two morphs of adult females, a yellow and a dark one. The yellow morph is similar to the male, except that the hind wings have an area of blue between the black margin and the main yellow area. In the dark morph, most of the yellow areas are replaced with a dark gray to a black. A shadow of the "tiger stripes" can still be seen on the dark females. The dark form is more common in the Southern portions of the range, especially in areas also inhabited by the Pipevine Swallowtail, which it seems to mimic.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtails often rest with their wings fully spread, particularly if the sun is out.

Female lays spherical green eggs on the top of leaves of host plants. After hatching, the caterpillars often eat the shell of their egg. The first instars are dark and mimic bird droppings. The second and third instars use mimicry camouflage to the extreme. Lying quietly on a branch or leaf the caterpillar appears to be a piece of bird excrement but if disturbed rears its head and acts like an aggressive snake similar to the Hognose Snake. If disturbed enough, it will extend two red horns known as osmeterium from its underside that look like a snake's tongue. This fearsome visual disguise is often enough to frighten or fool a curious bird or predator. The larvae eat the leaves of a wide variety of trees and shrubs, including cottonwood, tulip tree, sweet bay, Lemon and cherry. Adults are strictly diurnal; they start to fly towards noon and by and by return to rest throughout the afternoon (Fullard & Napoleone 2001).

It is the state butterfly of Georgia, Virginia, Alabama, South Carolina and Delaware.

Image gallery

Two eggs on a tulip tree leaf	First instar caterpillar	Second or third instar caterpillar showing osmeterium	Old caterpillar
Chrysalis	Freshly emerged (eclosed) female swallowtail	Freshly emerged (eclosed) female swallowtail, underside	Female specimen (yellow-morph)
Male specimen	Underside of wings	Eastern tiger male swallowtail nectar feeding in Virginia	Group of swallowtails including one dark variant

See also

• Two-tailed Swallowtail
• Western Tiger Swallowtail

References

• Brock, Jim P. & Kaufmann, Kenn (2003): Butterflies of North America. Houghton Mifflin Co., New York
• Fullard, James H. & Napoleone, Nadia (2001): Diel flight periodicity and the evolution of auditory defences in the Macrolepidoptera. Animal Behaviour 62(2): 349–368. doi:10.1006/anbe.2001.1753 PDF fulltext

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Papilio glaucus

• Eastern Tiger Swallowtail: Butterflies of North Carolina
• Eastern Tiger Swallowtails at BugGuide.net
• Eastern Tiger Swallowtail: Diagnostic photographs Cirrus Digital Imaging
• Eastern Tiger Swallowtail: black female form diagnostic photographs Cirrus Digital Imaging
• USGS treatment
• eastern tiger swallowtail on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site

v • d • e Butterflies of Michigan Spread-winged Skippers (Pyrginae) Silver-spotted Skipper • Hoary Edge • Northern Cloudywing • Southern Cloudywing • Dreamy Duskywing • Sleepy Duskywing • Juvenal's Duskywing • Horace's Duskywing • Mottled Duskywing • Wild Indigo Duskywing • Columbine Duskywing • Persius Duskywing • Grizzled Skipper • Common Checkered-Skipper • Common Sootywing Skipperlings (Heteropterinae) Arctic Skipper Grass Skippers (Hesperiinae) Least Skipper • Powesheik Skipperling • European Skipper • Fiery Skipper • Common Branded Skipper • Ottoe Skipper • Leonard's Skipper • Cobweb Skipper • Indian Skipper • Peck's Skipper • Tawny-edged Skipper • Crossline Skipper • Long Dash • Northern Broken-Dash • Little Glassywing • Delaware Skipper • Hobomok Skipper • Mulberry Skipper • Broad-winged Skipper • Black Dash • Dion Skipper • Dukes' Skipper • Two-spotted Skipper • Dun Skipper • Dusted Skipper • Pepper and Salt Skipper • Common Roadside-Skipper Swallowtails (Papilioninae) Pipevine Swallowtail • Zebra Swallowtail • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail • Canadian Tiger Swallowtail • Spicebush Swallowtail • Giant Swallowtail Whites (Pierinae) Checkered White • Cabbage White • Mustard White • West Virginia White • Large Marble • Olympia Marble Sulphurs (Coliadinae) Clouded Sulphur • Orange Sulphur • Pink-edged Sulphur • Little Yellow Harvesters (Miletinae) Harvester Coppers (Lycaeninae) American Copper • Bronze Copper • Bog Copper • Purplish Copper • Dorcas Copper Hairstreaks (Theclinae) Brown Elfin • Hoary Elfin • Frosted Elfin • Henry's Elfin • Western Pine Elfin • Eastern Pine Elfin • Southern Hairstreak • Coral Hairstreak • Acadian Hairstreak • Hickory Hairstreak • Edwards' Hairstreak • Banded Hairstreak • Striped Hairstreak • Red-banded Hairstreak • Gray Hairstreak • White M Hairstreak • Early Hairstreak Blues (Polyommatinae) Eastern Tailed-Blue • Western Tailed-Blue • Spring Azure • Summer Azure • Silvery Blue • Northern Blue • Melissa Blue • Greenish Blue Metalmarks (Riodinidae) Swamp Metalmark Snouts (Libytheinae) American Snout Milkweed Butterflies (Danainae) Monarch Longwings and Fritillaries (Heliconiinae) Variegated Fritillary • Great Spangled Fritillary • Aphrodite Fritillary • Regal Fritillary • Atlantis Fritillary • Bog Fritillary • Silver-bordered Fritillary • Meadow Fritillary • Frigga Fritillary • Freija Fritillary Admirals & Relatives (Limenitidinae) Red-spotted Purple • White Admiral • 'Astyanax' Red-spotted Purple • Viceroy Emperors (Apaturinae) Hackberry Emperor • Tawny Emperor Satyrs & Wood-Nymphs (Satyrinae) Northern Pearly Eye • Eyed Brown • Appalachian Brown • Mitchell's Satyr • Little Wood Satyr • Common Ringlet • Common Wood Nymph • Red-disked Alpine • Jutta Arctic • Chryxus Arctic True Brushfoots (Nymphalinae) Gorgone Checkerspot • Silvery Checkerspot • Harris' Checkerspot • Pearl Crescent • Northern Crescent • Tawny Crescent • Baltimore • Common Buckeye • Question Mark • Eastern Comma • Satyr Comma • Green Comma • Hoary Comma • Gray Comma • Milbert's Tortoiseshell • Compton Tortoiseshell • Mourning Cloak • Red Admiral • Painted Lady • American Lady

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• This page was last modified on 5 September 2008, at 18:08.

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