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Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Papilio glaucus Linnaeus, 1758

Subfamily Papilioninae

Tribe Papilionini, Fluted Swallowtails

Papilio glaucus, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 31 March 2007                                                                                  Ref #: I-365-7.2

Papilio glaucus, dark morph female, Pontotoc Ridge Preserve, Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, 10 June 2006                                                                 Ref #: I-356-1.1

Papilio glaucus, dark morph female, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 31 March 2007                                                    Ref #: I-365-3.1

Taxonomy

There are about 600 species within the family Papilionidae.  The family is made up of 3 subfamilies, the Parnassiinae, which has about 50 species of Parnassians and Apollos that are found mostly in the montane regions of the nothern hemisphere, the Baroniinae, which has only 1 species, Baronia brevicomis from western Mexico, and the Papilioninae, which has about 550 species found worldwide.  The subfamily Papilioninae is further divided into 4 tribes, the Teinopalpini, which include 2 species from the Himalayas, the Troidini, which has about 130 worldwide species including the birdwings, the Leptocircini, which has about 140 species and includes kite Swallowtails, and the Papilionini, which has over 200 worldwide species and includes the fluted swallowtails in which Papilio glaucus belongs to.

Papilio glaucus, Congaree National Park, Richland County, South Carolina, 27 July 2008

                                                                                              Ref #: I-394-10.4

General Information:

Papilio glaucus has one of the largest wingspans of any butterfly found in the United States.  It is found throughout the eastern half of the U.S. in a variety of habitats that have deciduous trees.  It avidly collects nectar and is a common garden visitor.  Males can also be found in numbers imbibing minerals from the edges of lakes, rivers, and puddles on gravel roads.  Females come in two morphs, yellow with black tiger stripes and a dark morph.  The dark morph is a Batesian mimic of the Pipevine Swallowtail, Battus philenor.

Lifecycle:

Larval hostplants include many trees and shrubs.  Some of the more common are cherry, cottonwood, tuliptree, sweet bay, and others.  Immature larvae look like a bird dropping.  Mature larvae resemble a snake.  Larvae have eversible organs called osmeteria that are used to chemically deter predators.

Papilio glaucus, freshly deposited egg on wild cherry, J. T. Nickel Family Nature and Wildlife Preserve, Cherokee County, Oklahoma, 2 April 2007                                Ref #: I-367-4

Chokecherry, Prunus virginiana, a common larval food source, Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge, Ward County, North Dakota                                         Ref #: F-18-5.3

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Papilio glaucus, Ouachita National Forest, Beech Creek, Le Flore County, Oklahoma, 28 June 2010                                                                                     Ref #:  I-445-6

Papilio glaucus, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 5 August 2010                                                                                 Ref #:  I-451-10

Papilio glaucus, dark morph female, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 7 August 2010                                                      Ref #:  I-452-8

Papilio glaucus, dark morph female, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 7 August 2010                                                 Ref #:  I-452-13.3

Papilio glaucus, dark morph female, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 7 August 2010                                                      Ref #:  I-452-7

Papilio glaucus, dark morph female, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 7 August 2010                                                 Ref #:  I-452-10.2

Papilio glaucus,  Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 7 August 2010                                                                                 Ref #:  I-452-14

Papilio glaucus, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 5 August 2010                                                                                 Ref #:  I-451-11

Papilio glaucus, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 29 March 2007                                                                                  Ref #:  I-364-13

Papilio glaucus, Lexington Wildlife Management Area, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, 29 March 2007                                                                               Ref #:  I-364-16.3