This girl came to visit today. I have never seen a female tiger colored like this before. She is kind of in between the regular tiger striped and the dark form.
I hope she will be back for some more photos.
Kris
A different Tiger girl
Hi Paintedlady,
That is most unusual. It really looks like a cross between 2 different swallowtails. It could be a variation of a particular species too. Never the less it is a beautiful specimen & most definately a female. I hope she comes back & maybe allows you to get a shot of her underwings & abdomen. That would make it easier to identify. Thanks for sharing.
Are you sure she just didn't get too much sun (faded her colors)??? ;) Never seen one marked like that. Very interesting.
At first it crossed my mind that she might have faded, but I let go of that idea pretty fast. This butterfly was not wore in any way, probably only a couple of days old.
I have seen old and ragged out dark females and there is no yellow in them.
I know it's a tiger, it's the largest butterfly here and the way they fly or rather glide through the air is unmistakable.
If she is a hybrid, I wonder what the other butterfly would have been.
I'm putting a photo of the regular dark form here if somebody doesn't know what they look like.
Here's the regular girl for comparison.
Where's Bugguy when you need him...he's an entomologist. You could try posting on an MSN group called LEPSrUS. They are all butterfly enthusiasts and may be able to help you. I'm not a member but was told about it though a member of the Florida Native Plant Society. He's in it. He thought you had to sign up and give name, addy, etc. to join but that it was free. You might see if they can help you on this one.
I'm just going to email him and ask if he will take a look at it.
Hi Painted Lady,
I got your email, and here I am! My apologies for not being around much lately; work has been very busy for me this year.
Anyway, what you have here is definitely a female tiger swallowtail, but it is an aberrant specimen. These are very rare...I know a few butterfly collectors that would have a heart attack if they saw this in their garden! Good find!! She is obviously a bit worn, and would have been even more spectacular when freshly emerged. I particularly like the heavy black scaling around all of the wing veins.
Out east you folks are fortunate...your eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) exhibits nice variation with the standard and black forms...females of the western tiger swallowtail (Papilio rutulus), found west of the Rocky Mountains, do not have a black form.
Cheers, Guy
Thanks Bugguy!
Now I wish I had stayed after her when she was here. I didn't realize how rare she was and figured she would be back.
I hope she lays lots of eggs out there.
Now why didn't I think of that???? Just e-mail him...DUH!
Well, know we know why we don't see many like that, cuz there aren't many like that. I wonder if they get selected out of the gene pool? (Sorry, my bio background coming out here.)
What a find and what a picture!! We haven't had nearly as many butterflies this year as last. I wonder if all the rain had anything to do with it or the fact I severely limited the amount of Bidens growing in my yard?
Interesting that you've had less. I started out with many fewer butterflies this spring, but have seen about the same as the summer has worn on. I have noticed more of certain species (queens and zebra longwings most notably).