Spicebush Swallowtails

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="050d4c00dduajq.gif"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="95" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 46 WIDTH="91"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="46" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="91" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#003333" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Invertebrate Fauna of Kerr County, Texas</B></FONT>     |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Invertebrate Fauna of Kerr County, T"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Flat Skippers"><U>Flat Skippers</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Branded Skippers I"><U>Branded Skippers I</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id59.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Branded Skippers II"><U>Branded Skippers II</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Metalmarks"><U>Metalmarks</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hairstreaks and Blues"><U>Hairstreaks and Blues</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Swallowtails"><U>Swallowtails</U></A>   |   <B>Spicebush Swallowtails</B>   |   <A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Snouts"><U>Snouts</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Monarchs and Queens"><U>Monarchs and Queens</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id43.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Satyrs"><U>Satyrs</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id45.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Emperors"><U>Emperors</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id44.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Brushfoots I Fritillaries Heliconians"><U>Brushfoots I -- Fritillaries & Heliconians</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id56.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Brushfoots II Checkerspots Patches"><U>Brushfoots II -- Checkerspots & Patches</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id57.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Brushfoots III Crescents"><U>Brushfoots III -- Crescents</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id58.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Brushfoots IV Punctuation, Ladies Buck"><U>Brushfoots IV -- Punctuation, Ladies & Buckeyes</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Admirals and Leafwings"><U>Admirals and Leafwings</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id38.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Whites and Sulphurs I"><U>Whites and Sulphurs I</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id60.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Small Sulphurs II"><U>Small Sulphurs II</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id55.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Not yet recorded in Kerr County"><U>Not yet recorded in Kerr County</U></A></div> <div> Spicebush Swallowtails</div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Tx-Butterfly Spicebush Swallowtail thread, September 2003</B></I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> I spent a short time driving around Hornsby this morning and ran across this Spicebush Swallowtail. This is not just the only Spicebush I've ever seen in Austin but it is the most distinctly marked I have ever seen at all, even down to the slight reddish edges to the white spots on the rear wing. -- John Ingram</div> <bR> <bR> <div> John: I was very glad to see your post. I also had a Spicebush on a citrus here in western Bastrop Co. yesterday (9/2) and wrote Mike Quinn on it. It was an immaculate female and the first I remember ever seeing on my place. Glassberg's range maps show them only coming in as close as ~150+ miles to our east and you found this another 26 miles to my west. I had the animal as I said, with two copulating Giant Swallowtails on a citrus that they often use as a host plant (but only when there is new growth). There was no indications that the female Spicebush I had yesterday was egg-laying on the citrus and I have not seen it as yet today. However I have found 9 un-identified yellowish eggs on the bush, unfortunately I will be out of town for a while after tomorrow and likely won't be able to figure which species they belong to for some time. I suspect most likely Giant. BTW yours appears a bit different from the one I had.  --  Brush Freeman </div> <bR> <bR> <div> I believe this swallowtail is actually a dark female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. Careful study of several field marks on this butterfly all point to E. Tiger, and not Spicebush Swallowtail. -- P. D. Hulce </div> <bR> <bR> <div> Hate to tell you this, but P.D. is correct. Your photo is of a female Tiger Swallowtail (dark form), and not a Spicebush Swallowtail. Sorry! -- James K. Adams </div> <bR> <bR> <div> David Bryant and P. D. Hulce raise good questions concerning my "Spicebush" Swallowtail. I have to admit that my first reaction coincided with theirs that it was a Dark Form Eastern Tiger. The thing which bothered me was the missing orange spots. I'll certainly take that as a correction if everyone feels the same way. I have added my image of the Dark Form Eastern Tiger to the web site and the correlation is obvious. However, I still miss the orange spots. -- John Ingram</div> <bR> <bR> <div> The orange spots are of minor importance. Lacking orange spots is within the normal variation for Tiger Swallowtails. Much more important is the quality and extent of the blue coloring on the hindwing, which leaves *no* doubt that your image is a female Tiger. Male Spicebush tend to be greenish, and female Spicebush, while blue, do not have the *bright, intense* blue seen in your picture, nor does it extend to any degree from the primary band along the edge of the hindwing up onto the hindwings, again as seen in your picture.  -- James K. Adams</div> <bR> <bR> <div> I want to thank everyone who helped identify my Tiger Swallowtail. That is one of the really great advantages of Tx-Butterfly. It is a lot of fun to get the photos in the first place and then to discuss the identities after the fact. This week I've gotten shots that I really like and mis-named both of them and had help in correcting them. It really helps to keep my web site correct.  -- John Ingram</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Continuing, for a moment, the Spicebush Swallowtail thread, i have what i have identified as Spicebush Swallowtail in Kerr County, in the central Texas Hill Country, 100+ miles west of Brush Freeman's place. We have three known canyons here with Spicebush, <I>Lindera benzoin,</I> growing naturally, and it undoubtedly grows in other spots on private ranches. I have seen what i identified as Spicebush Swallowtails on a number of occasions, all associated with the foodplant. I have also identified and photographed black form of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, and seen a few Black Swallowtails, though not the black form female in this county. Pictures of a purported Spicebush Swallowtail cat, and of an adult from about three weeks ago, are posted on my website at: <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Swallowtails"><U><U>http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/margaret/203/id67.htm</U></U></A></FONT>    i would appreciate any corrections necessary. -- tony gallucci</div> <bR> <bR> <div> For the record, Spicebush Swallowtails have been recorded all the way to Uvalde Co. and even further west in Colorado...  Spicebush Swallowtail <I>(Papilio troilus)</I> - USGS  <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/usa/716.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr"><U><U>h</U></U></A><A HREF="http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/usa/716.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr"><U><U>ttp://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/usa/716.htm</U></U></A></FONT>  --  Mike Quinn</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Listers, For any of you with questions about the extent and intensity of blue on the hindwing that I was talking about, take a look at the photos that Tony just mentioned. He has a female Spicebush pictured, and the blue is indeed a bit darker and does *not* extend up on the hindwing. -- James K. Adams </div> <bR> <bR> <div> Black Tigers are extremely varied in pattern in Central Texas - from brown with ghost stripes to black with or without extensive or any blue. Red spots are well or poorly developed. The Hornsby picture is of a beautiful Black Tiger variant. You can find Spicebush Swallowtails in Travis Co., of all places out on Spicewood Springs Road where Spicebush, the larval foodplant grows. They are usually common there along Bull Creek. They wander to other parts of town. There are other colonies on Barton Creek, near Twin Falls; on the Colorado River near St. Stephens School; at West Cave Preserve and other places in the Hill Country. The species is reported from Kerrville, and I have seen it as far south as Lost Maples State Park (Real Co.) and Dry Fork of The Nueces River (Uvalde Co.). -- Chris Durden </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>