![]() All the mimics have white on wing edges, in parallel with their dots or bars. The upper wings carry key identifiers with the pipevines having no marks on upper wings, spicebushes having a single row of dots, black swallowtails having a double row of dots, and eastern tigers having a line of bars. So just who is the nasty butterfly? It is the beautiful-nasty pipevine swallowtail. Codella, entomologist and evolutionary ecologist at Kean University, what we have here is an “extensive North American mimicry complex,” consisting of the eastern tiger swallowtail, the black swallowtail, the pipevine swallowtail, the spicebush swallowtail, red-spotted purples, and female dianas. ![]() From left to right: the Eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus), pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor), Eastern black swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes), and spicebush swallowtail (Papilio troilus) Photo by Ansel Oommen, CCĪccording to Sylvio G. ![]() Me personally (if it were up to me!), I would have them all look different, but it’s not up to me, it’s up to natural selection.Ĭaterpillars of the swallowtail North American mimicry complex. In fact, half of our local swallowtails have ended up mimics. “Perhaps, the peak of Batesian mimetic perfection, diversity, and complexity is seen in butterflies…” Krushnamegh Kunte from THE DIVERSITY AND EVOLUTION OF BATESIAN MIMICRY IN PAPILIO SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLIESĪnd we see that about 25% of the approximately 200 species of swallowtail butterflies are mimics. Mimicking an unpalatable or toxic “model” is called Batesian mimicry. They gain longer lives, increased reproduction, and over evolutionary time, mimicry develops. In the case of swallowtails, a dark butterfly with blue on the bottom wings -forget about it! No way does anyone want to eat that nasty butterfly. In a sense, the disgusting butterfly, by virtue of being so disgusting, creates a predator-free space, and we see that simply looking like the disgusting or toxic butterfly, allows a delicious butterfly to enter that predator-free space -no one even wants to risk eating them. Among various species, what we see is that often, if there is a truly disgusting butterfly (to the taste of toads, birds, and other predators, of course), through natural selection and millions of years, numerous other butterflies end up looking like the gross butterfly (the scientific term is “unpalatable”). What we have here in our swallowtails is a case of mimicry. Now, if you were looking at some of the species up above and thinking, “What! These look the same!” you would be right. Zebra swallowtail summer form, Photo by Magan McCarty CC.Zebra swallowtail spring form, Photo by Magan McCarty CC.Spicebush swallowtail, Photo by Daniel Spurgeon CC.Spicebush swallowtail, Photo by Greg Hume CC.Pipevine swallowtail, Photo by John Flannery CC.Pipevine swallowtail, Photo by Greg Hume CC.Female black swallowtail, Photo by Kenneth Harrelson CC.Female eastern tiger swallowtail black morph, by Shanandoah National Park CC.Female eastern tiger swallowtail yellow morph, photo by James St.Male eastern tiger swallowtail, Photo by Haar Fagar CC.Interestingly (and perhaps inconveniently), each species has a different host plant for their caterpillars! What?! Let’s break it down! Swallowtail Identification Eastern tiger swallowtails And if you know which swallowtails are in your area, then you know which host plants to plant for next year (hooray!). If any of these awesome swallowtails visits your yard, and they slow down enough for you to get a look at them, hopefully the following photo gallery can help you easily ID your swallowtail. The first three are found throughout the eastern U.S., and the last three don’t go much further north than Iowa -the last two, zebra, and pipevine swallowtails are considered visitors, and not truly resident butterflies (so it’s extra special if you see one!). and the zebra swallowtail ( Protographium marcellus).pipevine swallowtail ( Battus philenor).spicebush swallowtail ( Papilio troilus).giant swallowtail ( Papilio cresphontes).the eastern tiger swallowtail ( Papilio glaucus).In southern Iowa there are 6 species of swallowtail butterflies that we can see: They begin to speed through our yard in late May or early June, and continue showing up now and then throughout the summer.
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