Spicebrush Swallowtail Caterpillar: Orange Morph

bugman

September 21st, 2005 at 12:00 am

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Orange caterpillar
We found this is our driveway today. One of the photos on your site had one that looked like it but said they were green or brown. This one is yellow orange. What is it?
Love your site!
Southern Ohio

Hi Buckeye,
Though we have not heard of an orange morph of a Tiger Swallowtail before, we go on the record as identifying your caterpillar as one. They are usually green and turn darker, often brown, just before pupating.

Update Oops, We stand corrected: (04/26/2006)
I was looking over your excellent site again and noticed that on Caterpillars 3 on the 9/21/2005 from S. Ohio you identified the orange caterpillar as a Tiger Swallowtail. It is actually a Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillar. The eye spots are very characteristic. Also, the Spicebush swallowtail does have an orange morph.
Susan

Question about the name
August 31, 2009
Hi… a friend was getting my assistance today in identifying a caterpillar. She later said that she found it on your site and that it was a “Spicebrush Swallowtail.” I instantly thought that it should be “Spicebush” Swallowtail (bush, not brush), so I came to your site to investigate. Sure enough, you had four or five entries (found via the search option) where they were called “spicebrush” swallowtails.
I think this is an error and that it should be “spicebush,” but I’m not an entomologist and will defer to your expertise. Just wanted to alter you, or be educated myself.
Stephanie

Hi Stephanie,
The letter you cite is an older posting to our site, and though we have seen both spellings in our research, we agree that the common name Spicebush is more appropriate. In our childhood, we referred to the butterfly as a Spicebrush Swallowtail, and that name stuck for a long time. Often errors become established as alternate names. Though we are not correcting this spelling in our archive, we do take note and all recent postings are identified as Spicebush Swallowtails.