Papilio Glaucus - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

The first known drawing of a North America butterfly was that of an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. It was drawn by John White in 1587, during Sir Walter Raleigh's third expedition to Virginia. White named his drawing "Mamankanois" which is believed to be the Native American word for "butterfly." This species was later described by Linnaeus in his 10th edition of Systema Naturae in 1758. Some taxonomists place P. glaucus, along with the other tiger swallowtails, in the genus Pterourus.

The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail was formerly considered a single species with a vast range into northern Canada and the eastern United States. In 1991, the subspecies Papilio glaucus canadensis was elevated to species level, thus reducing the range of P. glaucus to south of Canada. In 2002, another closely related species, P. appalachiensis, was described by H. Pavulaan and D. M. Wright from the southern Appalachian Mountains. These two species can be separated from P. glaucus by size; P. canadensis is smaller and P. appalachiensis is larger. These two also have a solid yellow bar along the margin of the ventral fore wing. P. canadensis females are not dimorphic, and P. appalachiensis females are rarely black.

Similar species for the dark P. glaucus female include the Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor), the Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus), and the female Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes). B. philenor differs from the dark morph P. glaucus by the row of light-colored spots on each wing margin. P. troilus is more greenish, and has two rows of orange spots on the ventral hind wing. P. polyxenes is smaller, and the ventral hind wing has two rows of yellow-orange spots.