Papilio glaucus
| Papilio glaucus | ||||||||||||
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male Papilio glaucus |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Papilio glaucus | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
Tiger swallowtail , sometimes similar to the English name Eastern Tiger Swallowtail as Eastern Tiger Swallowtail called, is a butterfly from the family of the swallowtail butterfly (Papilionidae). It was the first American butterfly known to European researchers.
features
The moths reach a wingspan of 90 to 160 millimeters. Their front wings have a yellow basic color and four to five black cross bars, of which mostly only the inner and the edge band reach the rear edge. The wide marginal band contains yellow spots near the edge of the wing. The fringes are black and yellowish piebald. The hind wings are also yellow in their basic color with a black transverse band and mostly also black discoid arteries. A wide black band with a series of larger blue and smaller yellow, often orange-filled crescent spots runs along the outer edge. The last blue field at the anal corner has a red spot. Like many members of the genus, Papilio glaucus also has a tail on each of its hind wings.
The underside of the forewings is colored similar to the upper side, but is a paler yellow. The yellow spots in the dark edge bandage are also often fused to form a bandage. The short horizontal stripe in front of the edge band is only hinted at. The underside of the hind wings is colored in the same way as the upper side, apart from four orange spots that sit on the inner side of the black outer edge. The blue spots in this black border are extended to a wide, only partially interrupted band and the yellow crescent spots are partly filled with orange. The body of the animals is predominantly black, on the sides they have two yellow vertical stripes. They are very similar to Papilio rutulus , but this has less pronounced blue spots on the upper side of the hind wing and only one orange spot on the underside of the hind wing.
In the females, the blue spots on the hind wings, which are much more pronounced, also run into the forewings, and the forewings between the transverse stripes often have a dark shadow. The front orange sickle point of the hind wings is clearly larger. The females also come in a dark color variant in which the yellow of the wings is completely replaced by black except for the spots on the edge. Also, almost all of the hind wings are partly dusted blue. The horizontal stripes on the underside of the forewing can easily be seen, all other features are the same as in the nominate form.
The caterpillars are initially dark brown with a lighter area on the top of the back. They look similar to bird droppings. They later turn green.
Similar species
development
The eggs of Papilio glaucus , which are laid individually on leaves, are green-yellow with red-brown spots. The caterpillars are green and have indicated eyes on the back of the thorax . These first eat their shell and then on the leaves. During the breaks they rest on a sheet spun with silk on a rolled sheet. Before the caterpillars pupate, they change their color to brown. The animals overwinter in their pupa , which is brown in color and which looks very much like a piece of wood.
Two eggs on the leaf of a tulip tree
Caterpillar before the first molt
Caterpillar after the first or second moult with everted osmaterium
Pupa of Papilio glaucus
Sex dimorphism and gynandromorphism
P. glaucus is one of the few butterfly species in which gynanders are found. Most are hybrids of P. glaucus and P. canadensis . Mosaic shapes are found in the center of the distribution area.
Occurrence
The animals occur in the east of North America in a north-south direction from Ontario to the Gulf of Mexico , in an east-west direction from the Atlantic coast to Colorado and deep into Texas and further to Nicaragua . They live in deciduous forests and on their edges, in river valleys and parks. In the western part of the USA they are displaced by Papilio rutulus .
Way of life
The moths feed on the nectar of a variety of different plants. Male moths often spend the day looking for females. However, this only happens in forest areas or mountains. Since the butterflies only stay in the same place for a short time, they can come across a large area. Once a mate is found, they both flap over the other once before landing and mating.
Food of the caterpillars
The caterpillars feed on the leaves of various deciduous trees and shrubs, such as. B. of Prunus species , magnolias ( Magnolia spec. ), Linden ( Tilia spec. ), Tulip tree ( Liriodendron tulipifera ), birch ( Betula spec. ), Ash ( Fraxinus spec. ), Poplar ( Populus spec. ), Whitebeam ( Sorbus spec. ) and willows ( Salix spec. ).
Flight times
The adults fly in the south in three generations from February to November, in the north in two generations from May to September.
Others
Papilio glaucus was the first American butterfly known to European research. It was painted in 1587 by John White , commander of Walter Raleigh's third expedition, but was first named by Linnaeus in 1758 along with 17 other American species.
Papilio glaucus is a state butterfly from the following states of the USA : Georgia , Virginia , Alabama , South Carolina and Delaware .
supporting documents
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Scott, S. 114
- ↑ a b c Papilio glaucus. (No longer available online.) Big Sky Institute at Montana State University, archived from the original on December 28, 2006 ; Retrieved November 29, 2006 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Mark Scriber, Rodrico Mercader, Howard Romack, Mark Deering: Not all bilateral gynandromorph butterflies are interspecific hybrids: new Papilio specimens from field populations . In: The Lepidopterists 'Society (Ed.): Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society . 63, No. 1, April 29, 2009, ISSN 0024-0966 , pp. 37-47.
- ↑ National Geographic January 2011 Special Issue: Gender Revolution ISSN 0027-9358
- ↑ Papilio glaucus. butterflycorner.net, Ing.Thomas Neubauer, accessed on November 29, 2006 .
- ^ Official State Butterflies
literature
- James A. Scott: The butterflies of North America. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California 1986, ISBN 0-8047-1205-0 .
