Posted (09/01/2007) Female Tiger Swallowtail?
Hi again!
Am I correct in believing that this is a "camouflaged" female Tiger Swallowtail mimicking the poisonous Pipevine Swallowtail? These pic was taken today and the butterfly is on a Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia Rotundifolia ). She was such a good subject, I could have taken pics of her all day long. I did find several pics of morphed female Tigers on your website but none of them had their wings open. How do you tell the difference between a morphed female Tiger Swallowtail and a Spicebrush Swallowtail? Is it that the Spicebrush has more blue "trailing" the orange spots on the inner row of orange spots on the underside of the lower wing? The butterflies are quite similar with their wings up. Thank You!!
Jacqui
Middle Georgia
P.S. I used to think it was SpiceBUSH Swallowtail, not SpiceBRUSH — LOL!! I guess I was crossing my bushes and my butterflies.

Hi Jacqui,
We were deleting some old emails and came across your great questions and wonderful photos that somehow slipped through the cracks when it was first sent. It was a busy time and the last full day of mom’s yearly visit. According to BugGuide, the: “dark phase occurs in females through much of range, especially in southern states. The stripes are still faintly visible from some angles. The black females may be distinguished from other swallowtails from below, by the absence of the band of orange spots on the hind wing seen on Black and Spicebush Swallowtails, and lack of iridescent blue of Pipevine Swallowtails. ” The stripes are more visible on the underwings as your photos illustrate. Also, we have seen both Spicebush and Spicebrush used, but Spicebush is more commonly accepted since it is the food plant of the caterpillar.

Red Admiral
Hi — Here’s a butterfly that I don’t see too often — a Red Admiral, I believe.
Susan Rockwell
Alva, FL

Hi Susan,
You are correct with your Red Admiral identification. These are seemingly fearless butterflies that frequently return to the same location to soak in the sun. For some reason, in our Mt. Washington, Los Angeles garden, they frequented the green hose in the front yard. When we bought a black hose, it was no longer attractive.

Georgia State Butterfly
I am sending these pics for your enjoyment. I also have a bunch of pics of Tiger Swallowtails on Purple Coneflowers. The Tiger Swallowtail appears to be a somewhat picky eater. Until I took these pics, I had only seen these beauties on my coneflowers. They flew by all the rest of my flowers and I have hundreds of flowers in yard, more than 30 types.
Jacqui

Hi Jacqui,
Thanks so much for providing us with personal observations. We have Tiger Swallowtails in our own Mt. Washington garden in Los Angeles, but they never alight on blossoms. It appears your other photos are on lantana in addition to the sunflower we are posting. Growing up in Ohio, Swallowtails and many other butterflies as well as Hummingbird Moths were attracted to Mom’s summer phlox.

Wow!! Never did I dream that I would be posted on your website!! I am VERY HONORED. BTW, you have a great eye! You were correct in identifying the other flower besides the sunflower as a lantana. (After living in South Texas and SoCal I primarily xeriscape and lantana’s are very heat and draught tolerant. With the 2 year draught we have been having in South/Middle Georgia, it is a good thing!) I had considered naming the flowers in the pics but I wasn’t sure of the relevancy… It is interesting that my observation about Tiger Swallowtails’ food preferences is correct. I am sorry that none “visit” your flowers I bet if you add some lantana and purple coneflower to your garden — both of which should do very well in your area — you will see much more of these gorgeous butterflies. Sunflowers are fun, too, but don’t always fit into a garden plan. FYI, hundreds of vine swallowtails pass through my garden but alight on NOTHING!! They must be VERY picky eaters indeed. Additionally, there is another big butterfly that passes through my yard which I have not yet been able to identify but is primarily orange and brown (not a monarch or viceroy, both of which frequent my yard, too) who is very conscious of — and concerned about — the ability of a flower to support its weight. If a flower bends in the least under its weight, the butterfly moves on. He flits here and there very rapidly and with apparent frustration at being unable to get the nectar out of sooo many flowers. Poor thing… I was thinking about about phlox to my garden next year. I think I definitely will now. Thanks for the tip!!
Jacqui
P.S. I have your fav spider in my yard, too. First, one was on the sage bush with Big Moma (the preying mantis who regenerated a big rear leg) for days — but on opposite side of the bush and for good reason. Then, I found another one on a sunflower. I had NEVER seen one of those spiders before. They ARE beautiful!! A couple of days later, I found him on your website Sadly, none of my first set of pics, where the spider was on the sage, turned out well. I only have a basic digital camera — no fancy zoom lens or high speed shutter. I NEED those bells and whistles!! I have not yet checked the shots of the spider on the sunflower. Cross your fingers!!

Owl butterflies from Belize
Hello Bugman:
I enjoyed David Sheen’s photo of the owl butterfly from Monteverdi (posted 08/03/2007). All giant owls show incredible colors in flight but always seem to rest with their wings closed. Fortunately they are beautiful from all sides. The Caligo uranus (dark background) and C. memnon were both photographed in Belize earlier this year. I thought at first that David’s owl was also a C. Uranus , but I now believe it is probably a C. atreus. Great site!
Karl

Caligo uranus	Caligo memnon

Hi Karl,
Thanks for your excellent photos as well as your insight. We struggled in vain to identify the Owl Butterfly sent by David, but there is a noticeable dearth of images online of the open winged views.

Dear Bugman:
Further to “Two species of Owl Butterflies from Belize “(08/05/2007)”, it seems that Caligo uranus and C. atreus are very similar both ventrally and dorsally. The main difference appears to be the black border on the dorsal hind wing of C. atreus , a feature which also is evident in David Sheen’s photo. Check out good photos of both species at:
http://neotropicalbutterflies.com/Site%20Revision/Pages/Nymphalidae_Pages/Brassolinae/Owl_Pages/Caligo_atreus.html
http://neotropicalbutterflies.com/Site%20Revision/Pages/Nymphalidae_Pages/Brassolinae/Owl_Pages/Caligo_uranus.html
Karl

Butterfly from Monteverde
Hard as I try, I cannot assume this is either a Morpho or the Owl butterfly. Btw, are the Blue Morpho and the Owl Butterfly one and the same? Thanks – I looked through the archives for this one but no luck!
David Sheen

Hi David,
We are pretty certain this is an Owl Butterfly in the genus Caligo. Morpho butterflies are in the genus Morpho and they are different from Owl Butterflies. The problem we are having with giving you an exact species identification is that most images of Owl Butterflies show the namesake eyespots on the underwings since that is the most distinctive feature of the genus.

Giant Swallowtail
Hi — I just adore your website! You probably have tons of Giant Swallowtail butterfly pics, but they are so gorgeous, I thought perhaps a couple more couldn’t hurt! LOL!
Susan Rockwell
SW Florida

Hi Susan,
We don’t get many adult images, but ew do get Giant Swallowtail Caterpillars, known as Orange Dogs.