Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)

 

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on Garlic Chives 8/30/2020

Steven and were having coffee on the back porch this morning when I grabbed my phone and sprinted across the yard to get pictures of this lovely butterfly. He was enjoying the garlic chives blooming in the patch of various flowers, herbs, and vegetables that are tucked in alongside the asparagus bed. 

I was quite pleased to be able to identify his sex, something I haven't been able to do before as I've been observing the Life on Salem Road.  He is distinguishable from the female because a female would have blue at the bottom of her forewing.  Butterflies at Home has a great article on Eastern Tiger Swallowtail coloration, with photos.  I'm now officially on the lookout for a female "dark morph."  One of the most interesting things about the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is that the female is dimorphic.  That means that the females occur naturally in more than one form.  (Drilling down into dimorphic traits, I learned that the various blood types in humans is an example of dimorphism.)  Females can have the yellow coloration found in males, but they can also have a dark form of the coloration.  Check out that Butterflies at Home article to see pictures of the dark morph.

I caught this fellow feasting on the garlic chives, but this US Forestry Service article says that the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail lays it eggs on plants of the rose and magnolia families. A common host plant is the wild cherry. In the Ice Storm of 2009, the only tree we lost completely was Amanda's climbing tree, a stout wild cherry she had named Elizabeth.  Several of Elizabeth's daughters (or nieces, I suppose) have sprung up here on Salem Road. How wonderful that they are providing a home for this lovely species of butterfly!


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