I found this today. Can you tell what is abnormal???
Abnormal Dark Tiger Swallowtail
topside
WOW! Awesome photos! Almost looks like it got swept up in a storm and lost it's wing cells or something :o) Am still jealous...we don't get Tigers this far south!
~ Cat
Very strange! It looks speckled, like all the yellow fell off!
Not supposed to have yellow lol. It is a dark Tiger but also wanted you to see the abdomen and thorax. It has some color and stripping like the Yellow Tiger instead of a solid black or grayish one.
No fair giving me a test. I've had very little sleep and should NOT even be on here right now. lol Then it's abnormal to have such a light, dark form. Right? I've never seen a dark form except pics so it's a little hard to envision.
as far as I know it is an abnormality. The first I have seen. Will have to see what I can find out about it. Hey wheres Kenya hubbie???
You know, if he didn't have to work he could spend all day on here answering our questions. ;) lol Send her a D-mail and ask them to look at the thread.
Hi - I'm here. You're right, this is something I haven't seen before either. There are some subspecies of Papilio glaucus I am not familiar with and I am no butterfly expert, so I took the liberty of forwarding your second image to someone who is. He should be at home base today and can tell us whether or not this is in the normal color range for this species. If it is, I sure can't find it. Here is a link to a site that pulls together info from across the web, but they don't illustrate this either.
http://pick5.pick.uga.edu/mp/20q?search=Papilio+glaucus
Stay tuned...
FM
thank you. I look forward to your friends response
I got a reply from our State Coordinator. Seems she is not so special lol. I am still excited through because it is something new to me and learn I a little more about them. His reply
"Donna,
The dark form female is actually more common in Mississippi than the yellow form female. The theory is that it mimics the supposedly distasteful Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor). In extreme south Mississippi (coastal area), there appear to be more yellow form females than dark form females. The one you sent a picture of is somewhat in between, and has a lot of yellow overscaling. It is somewhat unusual to see a mixture, but not rare. The males are not known to have a dark form.
Ricky "
That's really fascinating! Well, you know now that your visitor was a female...
I don't think I've seen a dark form tiger around here -- are they a more Southern thing, or am I just unobservant?
I did enjoy seeing a pair of tigers "dancing" yesterday in the little butterfly garden you helped me start, Donna. :-D The day before, it was a pair of monarchs! And 2 kinds of skippers, and at least 2 kinds of sulphers, and black swallowtails, and painted ladies, and little blue ones.... It's very busy out there!
Edited to add that, thanks to the BugFiles photos, I just figured out that some of my "little blue ones" are probably Gray Hairstreaks. :-)
This message was edited Aug 29, 2006 9:35 AM
I got essentially the same info from my contact here, although without the detail on mimicry: its rare, but not unheard of. Rare enough that I never saw one before. Thanks for posting.
FM
Tiger Swallowtails are probably the most common large butterfly around here, and although I've heard of a dark phase, I've never seen one either.
I hope you put it in the BugFiles.
I didn't realize the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail came in different varieties. I've been having trouble with the ID on this one.... Maybe it's the dark or black form:
Here's another
and one more
.. sunshinegoddess ..
Your photos (in particular the 1st & 2nd image) .. are the Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus), here >
http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabambc/construct-species-page.asp?sp=Papilio-troilus .. and most likely, your 3rd is the same species, also.
Have problems, myself .. telling the difference in the topside views, of a couple of them! Can sure make me dizzy .. and sometimes go to bed, seeing 'butterflies' fluttering about. (hee)
The same site, may help you distinguish between several species of butterfly. It will allow you to take a good gander at most any two species .. side-by-side! > http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabambc/butterfly-info.asp
- Magpye
Magpye,
I have a lot of pictures of Papilio troilus as they are constant visitors to my Lantana garden... This one had yellow-orange spots on the HW's and the blue wasn't an aqua shade like I usually see and was more localized.
Maybe I should check my other pictures to see if that yellow-orange spot is present on the others.
Magpye, I'm glad you ID'd it. After Donna trying to trick me with the first pic, I thought this might be another. LOL I didn't see any signs of a stripes like a dark form and was glad your ID was what I thought. In your link, the 2nd pic has the spot on the hind wings. The wings have to be spread far enough out or that can't be seen. I don't think I've seen it before either.
Well, you're right. I went through my pics and I see on of a Papilio troilus with an orange spot on the HW.
Thanks for all your help, Magpye and konkreteblond.
LOL KK I wasn't trying to trick you.
.. sunshinegoddess .. I'd've sworn, that I'd relayed a belated big 'hearty' welcome to DG, to ya .. in my reply above - but, apparently I didn't! (hee) .. So, ^here^ ya go!! (heehee)
.. KB ..
Ya know, I too have found that there are very rare occasions that the butterflies will even spread their wings fully .. for us to see all of the tidbits of wonderful details! .. LOL
Butterfly wing scales seem to catch & reflect/refract(?) light like some bird feathers do, because depending upon the time of day and the position of the butterfly, the sun, any camera flash, etc. - those beautiful splotches of colors that are cast upon the topside posteriors .. can vary, drastically. Ex: http://davesgarden.com/bf/showimage/376/ And, there are several other images that depict colors that aren't necessarily 'seen' on anothers' photos. Perhaps, even the various particular cameras used, makes for some differences.
.. DonnaB ..
Your dark Tiger Swallowtail is something I'd jes luv to have the opportunity to 'see', here. S/he's beautiful!! The other day, the largest Tiger Swallowtail I've ever seen .. came flitting through the yard. And naturally, the booger wouldn't sit idle long enuff for me to manage any decent shot either!
And similar to KB .. I too, first thought that you'd retouched that beauty in a photo editing program .. just to give us a 'good run of ID work'! (*gigglin'*)
- Magpye
Great site Magpye!
One could get caught up in the "identify this butterfly" trivia...
Very informative!
Thanks
~Debnes