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''Papilio glaucus'', the eastern tiger swallowtail, is a species of butterfly native to eastern North America. It is one of the most familiar butterflies in the eastern United States, ranging north to southern Ontario, Canada, and is common in many different habitats. It flies from spring until fall, during which it produces two to three broods. Adults feed on the nectar of many species of flowers, mostly from those of the families Apocynaceae,
Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae ...
, and
Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...
. ''P. glaucus'' has a wingspan measuring . The male is yellow with four black " tiger stripes" on each forewing. Females may be either yellow or black, making them dimorphic. The yellow morph is similar to the male, but with a conspicuous band of blue spots along the hindwing, while the dark morph is almost completely black. The green eggs are laid singly on plants of the families Magnoliaceae and
Rosaceae Rosaceae (), the rose family, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera. The name is derived from the type genus ''Rosa''. Among the most species-rich genera are ''Alchemilla'' (270), ''Sorbus ...
. Young
caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...
s are brown and white; older ones are green with two black, yellow, and blue eyespots on the thorax. The caterpillar will turn brown prior to pupating. It will reach a length of . The
chrysalis A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...
varies from a whitish color to dark brown.
Hibernation Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic depression undergone by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It most ...
occurs in this stage in locations with cold winter months. The eastern tiger swallowtail is the state butterfly of Alabama (as well as state mascot),
Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacen ...
, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina,Official State Butterflies
." ''Netstate''. NSTATE LLC''. ''26 June 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
and is the
state insect State insects are designated by 48 individual states of the fifty United States. Some states have more than one designated insect, or have multiple categories (e.g., state insect and state butterfly, etc.). Iowa and Michigan are the two states with ...
of Virginia.


Description

The wingspan ranges from with females being the larger sex. Southern individuals are larger than northern ones. Males are yellow with four black "tiger stripes" on each forewing. The outer edge of the forewing is black with a row of yellow spots. The veins are marked with black. The postmedian area of the hindwing is black with yellow spots along the margin. The inner margin of the hindwing has small red and blue spots. The ventral forewing margin has a yellow bar that is broken into spots. This broken bar is present in both sexes, and is used to distinguish ''P. glaucus'' from its close relatives. Females are dimorphic. The yellow morph differs from the male in having a blue postmedian area on the dorsal hindwing. In the dark morph, the areas that are normally yellow are replaced with dark gray or black. The bluish postmedian area on the ventral hindwing has one row of orange spots. A shadow of the "tiger stripes" can be seen on the underside of some dark females. ''P. glaucus'' is one of a few species of papilionids known to produce gynandromorphs. Most bilateral gynandromorphs are hybrids of ''P. glaucus'' and '' P. canadensis'' that are found along hybrid zones. Color mosaics are found in the central part of the species range. Papilio glaucus-female dark form.jpg, Female dark morph upperside Papilio glaucus-female dark form ventral.jpg, Female dark morph underside


Taxonomy

The first known drawing of a North American butterfly was of an eastern tiger swallowtail. It was drawn by John White in 1587, during
Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellion ...
's third expedition to Virginia. White named his drawing "Mamankanois" which is believed to be a Native American word for "butterfly". This species was later described by
Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, ...
in his
10th edition 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
of ''
Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomen ...
'' in 1758. Some taxonomists place ''P. glaucus'', along with the other tiger swallowtails, in the genus '' Pterourus''. The eastern tiger swallowtail was formerly considered a single species with a vast range into northern Canada and the eastern United States. In 1991, the
subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
'' Papilio glaucus canadensis'' was elevated to species level, thus reducing the range of ''P. glaucus'' to south of Canada. In 2002, another closely related species, '' P. appalachiensis'', was described by H. Pavulaan and D. M. Wright from the southern Appalachian Mountains. These two species can be separated from ''P. glaucus'' by size; ''P. canadensis'' is smaller and ''P. appalachiensis'' is larger. These two also have a solid yellow bar along the margin of the ventral forewing. ''P. canadensis'' females are not dimorphic, and ''P. appalachiensis'' females are rarely black. Similar species for the dark ''P. glaucus'' female include the pipevine swallowtail (''
Battus philenor ''Battus philenor'', the pipevine swallowtail or blue swallowtail, Retrieved April 19, 2018. is a swallowtail butterfly found in North America and Central America. This butterfly is black with iridescent-blue hindwings. They are found in many di ...
''), the spicebush swallowtail ('' Papilio troilus''), and the female black swallowtail (''
Papilio polyxenes ''Papilio polyxenes'', the (eastern) black swallowtail, American swallowtail or parsnip swallowtail, is a butterfly found throughout much of North America. It is the state butterfly of Oklahoma and New Jersey. An extremely similar-appearing spec ...
''). ''B. philenor'' differs from the dark morph ''P. glaucus'' by the row of light-colored spots on each wing margin. ''P. troilus'' is more greenish, and has two rows of orange spots on the ventral hindwing. ''P. polyxenes'' is smaller, and the ventral hindwing has two rows of yellow-orange spots.


Distribution and habitat

''P. glaucus'' is found in the eastern United States from southern Vermont to Florida west to eastern Texas and the
Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...
. It is common throughout its range, although is rarer in southern Florida and absent from the
Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...
. In 1932, a single specimen was collected in
County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by t ...
, Ireland. It is believed to have been an accidental introduction from North America. ''P. glaucus'' can be found almost anywhere deciduous forests occur. Common habitats include woodlands, fields, rivers, creeks, roadsides, and gardens. It will stray into urban parks and city yards. Because it has adapted to many different habitats and host plants, ''P. glaucus'' is a generalist, and is not considered threatened. ''Papilio glaucus'' is considered to be one of the most polyphagous of all swallowtail species. This is likely due to genetic traits and differential detoxification abilities. However, as compared to ''
Papilio canadensis ''Papilio canadensis'', the Canadian tiger swallowtail, is a species of butterfly in the family Papilionidae. It was once classified as a subspecies of '' Papilio glaucus''. Description Adult The wingspan of this species is 67 to 80 mm. ...
'', at the northern overlap between the two species, ''P. glaucus'' survive very poorly through their first larval instar when settling on a quaking aspen (''Populus tremeloides'') tree and their survival rate under those conditions are approximately 15%, whereas ''P. canadensis'' thrives on this food plant. Adults are seen from spring to fall, although the exact date varies depending on the location. In the south, they are seen from February to November; in the north, they are seen from May to September. ''P. glaucus'' produces two broods in the north and three in the south. The first broods yield the smallest adults.


Behavior

Eastern tiger swallowtails are diurnal, and are usually solitary. Adults are known to fly high above the ground, usually seen above the tree canopy. Males seek females by patrolling habitats containing the larval host plants. During courtship, the male and female fly about each other prior to landing and mating. The male releases perfume-like pheromones during courtship to entice the female into mating. Adults use a wide range of food sources, most preferring to nectar on sturdy plants with red or pink flowers. Many members of the families Apocynaceae,
Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae ...
and
Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...
are used as common nectar sources. Males participate in a behavior called
puddling A puddle is a small accumulation of liquid on a surface. Puddle or Puddles may also refer to: * Puddle, Cornwall, hamlet in England * ''Puddle'' (video game) * Puddle (M. C. Escher), a woodcut by M. C. Escher * Weld puddle, a crucial part of the ...
, in which they congregate on mud, damp gravel or puddles. They extract sodium ions and amino acids from these sources which aid in reproduction. Males that puddle are typically fresh, and puddle only for their first couple of days. Females will occasionally puddle, but do not form congregations. Adults have also been seen feeding on dung, carrion, and urine. The eastern tiger swallowtail, ''Papilio glaucus'', is probably the most polyphagous of all 560+ species of swallowtail butterflies in the world.


Life cycle

The butterfly may have one or two generations in the north, while southern areas may have three. Time duration for various stages is as follows: *Egg - It takes three to five days for eggs to hatch. *Larva - The caterpillar has five instars. *Pupa - The chrysalis stage lasts nine to eleven days, or over winter hibernation.


Egg

Females lay their eggs singly on the host plant leaves, preferring to oviposit on host plants near nectar sources. The egg is round and green, later turning yellowish green with reddish dots. The size of the egg is large for a butterfly, being 0.8 millimeters (0.03 in) in height and 1.2 millimeters (0.05 in) in width. It takes between 4 and 10 days to hatch.


Caterpillar

The
caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...
eats the leaves of the host plant. It will rest on a silk pad on a leaf, with the edges of the leaf folded over itself and held together with silk. The first three instars are brown. A large white spot, known as a saddle, is found on the abdomen. After molting to the fourth instar, the caterpillar becomes green. The swollen thorax has two black, yellow, and blue eyespots. These eyespots are much smaller than those of the similar-looking spicebush swallowtail caterpillar. A yellow and black transverse stripe is present between the first and second abdominal segments. It is concealed between the folds of the segments when the caterpillar is at rest. The abdomen is spotted transversely with light blue. Before pupating, the caterpillar will turn dark brown. It will reach a length of . The caterpillar of ''P. glaucus'' is impossible to distinguish from the caterpillars of '' P. canadensis'' and '' P. appalachiensis''.


Chrysalis

The
chrysalis A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...
measures . It hangs from a surface by a silk girdle around the thorax and a silk pad at the base. The chrysalis varies in color, ranging from off white to dark brown. It is often spotted with green and dark brown. Lighter-colored chrysalids often have a dark lateral stripe along each side of the body. Two horn-like projections are present on the head; one is found on the thorax. ''P. glaucus'' chrysalids can be found in a variety of places, but are commonly found on tree trunks, fence posts, and in ground litter. It
hibernate Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic depression undergone by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It most ...
s in locations with cold winters.


Host plants

The caterpillar feeds on host plants of many different families. Common host plants used are those of the families Magnoliaceae and
Rosaceae Rosaceae (), the rose family, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera. The name is derived from the type genus ''Rosa''. Among the most species-rich genera are ''Alchemilla'' (270), ''Sorbus ...
, with species including tulip tree (''
Liriodendron tulipifera ''Liriodendron tulipifera''—known as the tulip tree, American tulip tree, tulipwood, tuliptree, tulip poplar, whitewood, fiddletree, and yellow-poplar—is the North American representative of the two-species genus ''Liriodendron'' (the other ...
''), sweet bay magnolia ('' Magnolia virginiana'') and wild black cherry ('' Prunus serotina''). It also feeds on other members of the family Rosaceae, as well as members from the families
Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 ). They are dicotyledons, and occur ma ...
, Oleaceae, Rutaceae, and Tilioideae. Aspens ( ''Populus'' sect. ''Populus''), birches ('' Betula''), and willows ('' Salix'') have been recorded in older literature as host plants, but these are used by ''P. canadensis''. Host plants of ''P. glaucus'' include: * Wild black cherry ('' Prunus serotina'') * Ash (''
Fraxinus ''Fraxinus'' (), common name, commonly called ash, is a genus of flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45–65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous, though a number of Subtropics, subtropic ...
'' species) * Cottonwood (''
Populus ''Populus'' is a genus of 25–30 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar (), aspen, and cottonwood. The we ...
'' species) * Wafer ash or hoptree ('' Ptelea trifoliata'') * Common lilac ('' Syringa vulgaris'') * Sweet bay magnolia ('' Magnolia virginiana'') * Tulip poplar or tulip tree (''
Liriodendron tulipifera ''Liriodendron tulipifera''—known as the tulip tree, American tulip tree, tulipwood, tuliptree, tulip poplar, whitewood, fiddletree, and yellow-poplar—is the North American representative of the two-species genus ''Liriodendron'' (the other ...
'') * Willow ('' Salix'' species)


Defense against predators

The first three instars of the caterpillar are bird dropping mimics, coloration that helps protect it from predators. In later instars, the eyespots on the thorax serve to deter birds. Like all members of the family Papilionidae, the caterpillar of ''P. glaucus'' possesses an osmeterium, an orange, fleshy organ that emits foul-smelling terpenes to repel predators. Normally hidden, the osmeterium is located on the first segment of the thorax, and can be everted when the caterpillar feels threatened. The combination of eyespots and osmeterium makes the caterpillar resemble a snake. Since adults are palatable, dark morph females use
Batesian mimicry Batesian mimicry is a form of mimicry where a harmless species has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species directed at a predator of them both. It is named after the English naturalist Henry Walter Bates, after his work on bu ...
to protect themselves from vertebrate predators by mimicking the poisonous pipevine swallowtail. Dark morph females are more prevalent in the south, where ''B. philenor'' is more common.


See also

*
Two-tailed swallowtail ''Papilio multicaudata'', the two-tailed swallowtail, is a species of the family Papilionidae found in western North America from British Columbia to Central America. Description The two-tailed swallowtail is a large swallowtail of western Nort ...
* Western tiger swallowtail *
Canadian tiger swallowtail ''Papilio canadensis'', the Canadian tiger swallowtail, is a species of butterfly in the family Papilionidae. It was once classified as a subspecies of '' Papilio glaucus''. Description Adult The wingspan of this species is 67 to 80 mm. ...


References


Further reading

*


External links

* * * {{Taxonbar , from=Q310069 glaucus Butterflies described in 1758 Butterflies of North America Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Symbols of Georgia (U.S. state) Symbols of Alabama Symbols of North Carolina Symbols of South Carolina Symbols of Virginia Symbols of Delaware