Tiger Swallowtail Dark Form and Black Swallowtail

danielj

November 21st, 2007 at 1:00 am

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Two-tailed Tiger Swallowtail dark form??
Hi Bugman,
I L-O-V-E your website!!!! A co-worker turned me on to your site. Since then I have been able to identify many strange visitors (e.g. carpenter bees, giant resin bees, sow bug killers, etc.) to my Geneva, Illinois garden. I have also come to realize that most of my dark colored swallowtail visitors are not Black Swallowtail butterflies, as I had assumed, but rather dark form femail Tiger Swallowtails. But, I think that I have a new one for you. Is there a dark form of a Two-tailed Tiger Swallowtail? I have compared this butterfly to all of the other butterflies that I have photographed. I also searched your site & the internet. This appears to be the dark form of a Tiger Swallowtail, but it definitely has 2 tails. Is this possible? I thought that you might also enjoy this great picture of one of the few Black Swallowtail butterflies that have stopped by for a brief visit. Thanks ever so much! Keep up the good work!
Doris Bolin


Tiger Swallowtail: Dark Female	Black Swallowtail

Happy Thanksgiving Doris,
The butterfly in question is a dark form of the female Tiger Swallowtail. There is an image on BugGuide that also has two tails. Thanks for sending our readership such a nice comparison of the dark female Tiger Swallowtail and a female Black Swallowtail.