Papilio rutulus
| Papilio rutulus | ||||||||||||
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Papilio rutulus |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Papilio rutulus | ||||||||||||
| Lucas , 1852 |
Papilio rutulus , sometimes analogous to the English name (Western Tiger Swallowtail) called Western Tiger Swallowtail , is a butterfly from the family of the Knight Butterfly (Papilionidae). Some authors consider it only a subspecies of Papilio glaucus .
features
The moths reach a wingspan of 70 to 100 millimeters. They have yellow fore wings with four black stripes running across them; these become shorter towards the wing tip, so that the fourth is only indicated. The outer edge is colored broadly black, with small yellow spots being enclosed directly on the edge. The hind wings are also yellow and have a wide black outer edge, which connects to that of the forewings and which includes slightly larger yellow spots. In addition, the first tiger stripe of the forewing - tapering thin - continues on the hind wing. The tails typical of the family can be seen on the rear wings , which are black in color and only have a very fine yellow edge towards the inside. Between the black edge of the hind wings and above the tail sits a black eye with a gray-blue core; there is a red spot underneath. A gray-blue spot can be seen to the left and right of this eye. Further, towards the black edge of the hind wing, several, slightly bluish, dusty black spots are visible. These spots are much more pronounced in the very similar Papilio glaucus . The undersides of the wings are colored the same as the upper sides, the yellow spots on the edge of the forewings merge with one another, the blue areas of the hind wings are a little clearer and the black band is partly interrupted. One of the yellow spots on the hind wings enclosed by the black border is partly orange. Papilio glaucus has several of these orange spots. The body of the moth is essentially black, but has an extensive yellow color on the sides.
The caterpillars are about 50 millimeters long. They are colored green and have a dark ring with large, yellow eye spots that are black and blue with a core.
Similar species
Occurrence
The animals are found in large parts of the Nearctic . They are distributed from the west coast of the USA in Oregon , Idaho and Washington to British Columbia in Canada . In the eastern part of the USA they are displaced by Papilio glaucus .
Way of life
The moths often sun themselves and only fly when they are disturbed. They are rarely found sucking nectar ; occasionally they soak up water and nutrient salts in puddles and mud .
Flight times
They fly in one to three generations each year.
Food of the caterpillars
The caterpillars feed on the leaves of various deciduous trees such as B. Platanus racemosa , aspens ( Populus tremula ), willow ( Salix spec. ), Plum ( Prunus domestica ), common lilac ( Syringa vulgaris ) and ash ( Fraxinus spec. ). But they reject tulip trees ( Liriodendron ) and apples ( Malus ), in contrast to caterpillars of the very closely related Papilio glaucus ssp. glaucus (tulip trees and apples) and Papilio glaucus ssp. canadensis (apples). Even so, females sometimes lay eggs in these unsuitable species and the caterpillars starve to death after hatching.
development
The females lay about 100 of their intensely green, shiny eggs individually on the underside of the leaves of their forage plants. The caterpillars hatch after about four days. They are fully grown after five moults. Pupation takes place in a green (summer) or brown-gray (autumn) belt pupa . In summer the dolls rest for only about 15 days. Animals that pupate before winter only hatch, depending on the prevailing temperatures, after wintering in spring between February and May.
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Scott, S. 180ff
- ↑ a b Papilio rutulus. butterflycorner.net, Ing.Thomas Neubauer, accessed on November 23, 2006 .
literature
- James A. Scott: The butterflies of North America. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California 1986, ISBN 0-8047-1205-0 , 632 pages.
Online sources
- Butterflies and Moths of North America - A Montana State University website (English)
- Website of the EH Strickland Entomological Museum, University of Alberta
