I walked out my back door and spotted this guy on a leaf. I have never seen one like this does anyone know what he is? I will look further on the net but wanted to show him off too.
The pattern on his front/back looks like a big head so he looks bigger and meaner than he was.
I hope he makes it with all the wasps out to get food these days.
Ann
And here he is on the sidewalk.
Not sure what he is, either. Cool defense tactic, though! Which part is the front?
Sandy
Weird. Never seen anything like that before.
Sandy
I have no Idea which is the front but he was moving with the "face" part at the front.
As soon as I picked him up he did the puff up thing to look like he had a huge head.
Iol
I didn't see where he went after that.
Ann
very cool annabel.
looks like a Tiger Swallowtail butterfly Caterpillar to me
Annabelle can I send your pic to Nora Bryan here in Calgary? She has just done a column in her Herald Blog about caterpillars.
http://communities.canada.com/calgaryherald/blogs/gardenbuzz/default.aspx
This message was edited Aug 26, 2008 8:42 AM
Carol
Yes please. I thought he may be something special but I'm no expert at all.
DonnaB thanks for the lead , I will follow up.
Ann
Wonderful find Ann! I found why your caterpillar is such an unusual looking colour (to my eyes):
"The oddly mournful-looking creature above is a caterpillar of the Tiger Swallowtail butterfly. It was found in Central Park last week. The last caterpillar of this species I saw was a vivid green. Why is this one brown? According to the website of the Royal Alberta Museum in Canada:
"The caterpillar of this species changes dramatically as it goes through its various molts. In the first two instars (those periods between molts) it looks just like a bird dropping. It then changes to be predominantly green with two large eyespots near the front end. Just before pupating, the larva turns dark reddish brown."
Looks like our guy [or gal] is about to transform into a pupa."
http://mariewin.server304.com/marieblog/2006_09_24_mariewinn_archive.html
Pam and DonnaB
You guys are right!
It is a Tiger Swallowtail!
It does go brown just before pupating!
I wish I had been smart enough to assist it in finding a good spot to do that.
Now I will be watching for the adult !
Some of the Butterfuly forums say they protect them from predators and help them make it to the Flying part of their lives. That would have been very cool for us to watch and kinda neat to assist Mother nature.
Thanks to all for their assistance with this trivia.
Ann
OK you got it solved so I will not send it.
It would be neat to find out which Tiger Swallowtail that pupa is from Ann (then you could add it to the bugfiles: http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/b/Lepidoptera/Papilionidae/Papilio/none/genus/0/
I think there are a couple of Tiger Swallowtail possibilities that can visit the Edmonton area (the link above shows all the different varieties, most of which we will never see here).
Pam
Thanks for all the investigation!
In looking at the link I think it could be an Canadian Swallowtail but I'm not sure as they don't show the view just before it pupates.
I think I may sent it to an entemologist (sp) web site or take Fancyvan up on her offer to get an exact determination.
I will let you all know.
Ann
As per usual I ran out of my edits (I meant to put about-to-pupa) caterpillar.
I think it's a good idea to see if they can ID it to the exact species.
I think yours prolly is a Canadian Swallowtail too.
For fun (and its dull outside) I spent a few minutes looking around and found these:
Anise Swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon) Diagnosis: This medium-sized swallowtail (wingspan: 52 to 80 mm) tends to be mainly yellow in most forms. The yellow band is wide on the forewing and on the hindwing extends to the wing base, except in form "nitra," which is mostly black. The eye-spot near the tails has a black-centred pupil. The abdomen is black with a yellow lateral stripe.
Subspecies: Until recently, the various forms of this and other closely related swallowtails were often confused, causing many misidentifications. The work of a number of specialists, particularly Fisher (1977) and Sperling (1987), has now clearly defined zelicaon and its forms and indicate that formal subspecific divisions are not justified for this species. In Canada, the typical yellow form of zelicaon is found in British Columbia, as far north as Pink Mountain, and in Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan. The rare dark form of zelicaon (form "nitra," previously treated as a separate species called Papilio nitra) is found in Canada from the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains into southeastern Saskatchewan. (I really, really want to see this Swallowtail in person http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.wildutah.us/b_specimen_p_zelicaon_nitra_gothica_nitra_ts.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.wildutah.us/h_b_papilio_zelicaon_nitra_pupa.html&h=781&w=923&sz=140&hl=en&start=1&um=1&usg=__p2kjK9esdgbDtENFN-mJSXa07ls=&tbnid=dXZiMZ5_GnmSQM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=147&prev=/images%3Fq%3DPapilio%2Bnitra%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1B3GGGL_enCA176CA222%26sa%3DN ) At least you can see it's caterpillar at the above link so you know it isn't your critter.
Range: A common butterfly throughout most of its range in the western U.S., this swallowtail can be found in most of British Columbia, except the north, in southern and central Alberta, and in southern Saskatchewan. The dark form "nitra" tends to be found in foothills at lower altitudes than the yellow form.
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Canadian Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio canadensis)
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Old World Swallowtail
Papilio machaon
Subspecies: The nominate subspecies occurs in the Old World. Recent works have placed six subspecies under Papilio machaon in Canada: the small subspecies aliaska occurs in Alaska, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and northern British Columbia; subspecies hudsonianus is in Nunavut, the northern Prairie Provinces, northern Ontario, and into extreme northwestern Quebec; subspecies oregonius, which is larger and paler yellow, occurs in dry areas in southern British Columbia; subspecies dodi is found in badland regions of Alberta and Saskatchewan; subspecies bairdii, occurring mainly in the U.S., occurs in southern Saskatchewan, with a few records in Manitoba and Alberta; and the recently described subspecies pikei occurs in the Peace River area of Alberta and adjacent British Columbia.
http://www.cbif.gc.ca/spp_pages/butterflies/species/OldWorldSwallowtail_e.php
These have been sighted in Alberta:
Papilio machaon pikei Pike's Old World Swallowtail
Papilio machaon dodi Dod's Old World Swallowtail
Papilio machaon hudsonianus Hudsonian Old World Swallowtail
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As well there are these that have also been found in Alberta
Papilio multicaudatus Two-tailed Swallowtail
Papilio eurymedon Pale Swallowtail
http://www.tprc.gov.ab.ca/parks/heritageinfocentre/animals/butterfliestrack.aspx
Thanks Pam, I have Dmailed Fancyvan to email her person with knowledge on this subject.
It isn't the Anais one and there isnt a catapiller version of the other so I'm not sure.
I can't believe howmany bugs are out there!!
It is definatly a buggy world.
Ann
Glad you've figured out what it is. It's a great pic - save that one for the photo contest.
Ann
What a great Idea, thanks Ann
I have put him on the Bug files but didn't think of that.
Ann
