return to bug city

ahem. as i mentioned in an update of my previous post, after perusing a very detailed website (ok, multiple websites, because i have issues), i came to the conclusion that my swallowtail butterfly IDs were possibly inaccurate. so i thought i'd pull on this thread until the entire sweater was unraveled. down the ant hole we go!

i had identified this critter (above) as a male eastern swallowtail. this appears to be correct, although the proper name is eastern tiger swallowtail, so named for the four black "tiger stripes" on the upper front of the wing. the male has a few small ventral (front or abdomen side of the wings) spots of blue, while the back (dorsal) side of the wings has a larger row of blue spots.

female eastern tiger swallowtails are dimorphic, meaning they have two different morphs (appearances): yellow and dark. the yellow morph looks almost identical to the male, except they have a more pronounced row of blue spots on the dorsal side and vivid spots of yellow/orange around a blue row on the ventral side. i don't think we've seen one of those before, but i could be wrong (haven't been looking that closely, but i will now). the dark morph has mostly dark wings, of course, with the same yellow/orange-blue-yellow/orange rows as the yellow morph. they also sport a narrow row of yellow spots on the back edge of the wings. clear as mud, right? yup. for example, here (i think) are female black-morph eastern tiger swallowtails (below). note the narrow line of yellow spots along the back of the upper wing:

here's another one from a dorsal view:

the above butterfly was previously identified as a female black swallowtail. sorry, but nope. eastern tiger black-morph. ye gods, nobody without an entomology degree cares about this.

black swallowtails, on the other hand, have dark wings (duh) with a pair of yellow/orange rows of spots on the ventral and dorsal sides. the spots are more subdued on the female, which also has a prominent blue row between yellow/orange rows on the lower dorsal wings. the yellow/orange rows extend all the way to the top of the wings, unlike the female black-morph eastern tiger swallowtail. for example, i think a male (below):

i haven't gotten a good look at the dorsal (back) side of these individuals, so i don't know if our visitors are male or female. i'll be looking now, of course.

of course, considering all the variables, i could be wrong. but whatever, because they're awesome to look at, right? and the parsley patch is covered with swallowtail caterpillars (who knows which kind), which is a good thing:

 

 some other visitors to the garden. a common whitetail dragonfly:

 

a big wasp, which i think is actually called a great black wasp. according to the tubes, they paralyze their prey (usually larger insects like grasshoppers, katydids, and cicadas) and put it in an underground burrow, then lay their eggs in it. lunch for the kids! these guys (girls?) love the amaranth.

not to be outdone, here's a bunch of frogs. look at all those frogs. all hail the door frogs.