Insect Picture of the Day

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Do we have time for one more butterfly? Just one, maybe? Okay. Here’s Jesse Moore again, this time with another tiger swallowtail butterfly.

No, really.

Yes, seriously.

This is the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, Papilio glaucus. (”Glaucus” is latin for “That doesn’t look like a tiger at all, Jonathan.”) Actually—and this is pretty cool when you think about it—tiger swallowtail butterflies are a bit like people: the same species can come in different colors.

Papilio glaucus also comes in the classic yellow-and-black striped variety, which scientists call a “phase”. As pictured here, they can have a black “phase” as well. Perhaps they’re moody and angsty and listen to The Cure a lot. Oh, and they write bad poetry about how nobody understands them. (But they don’t cut themselves. That’s Papilio emosi.)

I did a bit of digging, and it looks like, in spite of the term “phase”, they’re the same color their whole lives; some of them are just black and some of them are striped yellow.

Thanks, Jesse!

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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!

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You thought we were all done with butterflies, didn’t you? Well, silly you. They’re still out in force and Jesse Moore is still photographing them.

I need to sit down and learn a general guide to butterflies, see what the major groupings are among them. A brief review of bugguide shows that they all belong to Superfamily Papilionoidea. At this point, I don’t even know what papilions are, or what a bad case of papilionoids looks like. More research ahead!

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Butterfly Spring continues here at InsectPOD, again thanks to Kathleen Spivey. This was taken at a butterfly exhibit in New York City last Spring. I have nary a clue as to its identification so I’ll open the floor to the real bug experts now.

I haven’t seen many butterflies out here yet, though the weather has not been entirely conducive. Last week we had several days in the low 20’s (°C; mid-70’s °F) followed by a crushing cold snap including two snowstorms. Now the snow is gone and the weather is trying to warm up, but my neighborhood is getting pounded by sustained winds. The winds are a semiannual feature out here by the lake, lasting for about 2 weeks each Spring and Fall, and it’s just not a good time to be a bug if you’re not a strong flier.

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Kathleen Spivey has caught on film a vampire butterfly in the act of feeding! If you look at the larger size, you can actually see the gigantic fang stabbing into the hapless victim. Fortunately for us, the flower won’t rise from the grave as a ravenous undead itself; that only happens when the vampire bites another butterfly.

I’m actually not certain on the identity of this butterfly species (the astute reader will already know this: the less I know, the more baloney I make up), but I love this proboscis shot. The proboscis coils up out of the way when not in use. In some species it is actually split in two, and the two halves are sort of “zipped” together into a drinking straw when the butterfly finds a flower. I have got to get some pictures of that someday.

Until then, here’s this gorgeous shot from Kathleen.

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We have Michelle Reynolds to thank for today’s photo, along with her kids: Amanda, Sean, Henry and Edward. Sean especially helps find bugs, and either he or Michelle photograph them, and then she sends them in.

Michelle says this is a Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, and give the striking (striping?) coloration who am I to argue.

What a beautiful photo. The colors are fairly even as well, so I think this would make a good wallpaper. Yep, I was right. I especially love the “fur” all down the butterfly’s body. It’s like they made this thing out of a caterpillar or something. Oh wait, they did. Well, a lazy caterpillar, then. Didn’t even bother to get a haircut before metamorphosing.

Thanks Michelle! And Amanda, Sean, Henry and Edward!

(P.S. Sean: I’ve got your beetle picture slotted up for next Tuesday!)

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I was flipping through photos last night looking for a good image to put up, and happened to open my file browser to a thumbnail-sized version of this image, and it actually startled me. It looked like a giant lizard head peeking out of some brush. I thought, “Why on earth would someone send me a picture of a lizard? Is it eating–oh, WOW….”

I realize we’re getting two owl butterflies back to back, but this one is from Kathleen Spivey (sister of our own Jim Phillips). Since it was taken by a completely different reader it is therefore probable in the extreme that this is an altogether different insect. Kathleen took this photo at a butterfly exhibit in New York City last Spring.

Lean back and squint. Can you see the lizard head? Cool, huh?

I lost track of the photos that she had sent, but she actually sent in several. Between her and Eleanor, springtime looks like it will be butterfly season here at InsectPOD! I’m especially grateful, too, as the mercurial seasons here in Utah are not lacking in perversity this year: yesterday we got half an inch of snow. All the insects yelled “time out!” and vanished. They’ll be back soon, I hope.

Thank you, Kathleen!

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Eleanor Kelly sends us this breathtaking photo of an owl butterfly. She writes: “This is an owl butterfly I saw at a Butterfly conservatory near my hometown. I thought it was interesting that you could see how its eyes are striped just like its body. If I recall correctly this one had recently hatched and was still drying out its wings.”

Gorgeous. Just gorgeous.

What more can I say? I mean, besides “here’s a 1920×1200 wallpaper“?

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Alan Krause sent in this butterfly photo yesterday. He took this photo on July 25, 2007 at Devil’s Postpile National Monument.

Did you know the Devil had a postpile? I didn’t. That’s probably why they preserved it. It’s the loss of cultural heritage like this that’s bringing us all down.

I don’t have an ID for this bug, any takers? I suspect it’s a skipper of some sort but beyond that I have no clue.

Thanks, Alan!

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Today’s butterfly is the third and final (for now) installment of the Alan Krause butterfly submissions. This may be another swallowtail like Monday’s.

It is notable that of Alan’s pictures, this one was not his favorite, nor mine… but it is still really outstanding. He really sent some amazing stuff.

As always, you can grab the larger image and use it as a wallpaper.

Thanks, Alan!