Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Visiting Spring Beauty
Papilio glaucus
                    
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130J (1 print sold)
 
left Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on Spring Beauty right
 
2003 Photograph, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus, Swallowtail Butterfly Family, Papilionidae) on Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica), Carder Rock, Potomac, Maryland, © 2020.
An interesting side-line on this butterfly is its scientific name.  "Glaucus" means bluish-gray in Latin.  Linnaeus, who established the scientific name, had a black form female which he used in naming  the species based on her color.  Even though the majority of females and all males are the typical tiger-stripe form, the name had been established and the Tiger has been, scientifically speaking, the Bluish-gray Swallowtail ever since.
Jian Zhe Li

Nature Photography, Wildlife Photography, Waterfowl Photography and Bird Photography from Marsh, River, Field and Forest Habitats.
All images Copyright © 1999 - by Gerry Gantt, all rights reserved.