Insect Picture of the Day

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Jesse Moore keeps the butterfly parade coming with this beautiful specimen. This is one of the (very) few butterflies I can actually identify, and once you hear the name you’ll see why: this is a Tiger Swallowtail, genus Papilio. I actually think this is the Western Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, but I’m not confident enough in my butterfly identification-fu to say that with confidence.

However, here’s what I know: swallowtails are identified largely by the little tails on their wings, and the yellow-and-black wing stripes mean Tiger. There is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio glaucus, but it has orange spots on the hindwings, just inside the tails. If there are only two species in genus Papilio, then I strongly suspect this is P. rutulus; the reason for my lack of confidence is that I don’t know how many species are in Papilio. As soon as I say “I am sure this is a Western Tiger Swallowtail”, somebody will come along and say “Dude, there are over fourteen thousand species in Papilio, some of which can only be distinguished by their SAT scores.”

Either way, it’s a beautiful pic, Jesse. Thanks!