InsectNet forum

If there is one N.A. swallowtail species which seems to
be largely overlooked and seldom (if ever) mentioned;
it would have to be this one -- our Western (version) of
Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio rutulus).

I suppose when this elegant and striking species has a wide
range covering several western states AND it happens to
overlap the range of an even GRANDER species -- Papilio
multicaudata; well, then you pretty much stand in its shadow !

At least that seems to be the situation....

As you can see for yourself this is indeed a species of more
notable mention. Here is a wonderful (female) I have.



She is on par (for size) with most typical Eastern Tiger
(females) however, I have seen 3 or 4 examples which
were clearly larger than any (light-phase) eastern (females)
I've encountered short of the gigantosaur floridian subspecies
(maynardi).

The subtlely diffrent markings, more sharply angled forewings,
and longer "thinner" tails (as opposed to P. glaucus) all add up
to a more (if you will) "re-fined" and elegant damsel of sunny
western skies !

Perhaps, after this thread this marvelous species will gather
a little more attention (and due respect) for the pleasingly
attractive species that it is....

I first saw rutulus on a trip to southern CA in the late 1980s, and at the time, didn't realize that it was a separate species from glaucus. As for multicaudata, I have yet to see that species in the wild, though I do have a fine captive-reared pair (ssp. pusillus) from OR.

For reference, here is P. m. multicaudata -


http://www.raisingbutterflies.org/papil ... multicaud/

and P. m. pusillus -


http://www.raisingbutterflies.org/papil ... -pusillus/

There is also a third subspecies (P. m. grandiosus) from Mexico.

livingplanet3 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 7:06 pm There is also a third subspecies (P. m. grandiosus) from Mexico.

Note that grandiosus only occurs in Chiapas and Guatemala. In the rest of Mexico the subspecies is nominate multicaudata.

Adam.

My son, who lives in Colorado, gets multicaudata in his back yard, on thistles.

P. multicaudata is very common in Arizona. They start flying in late March at lower elevations and feed on Ptelea trifoliata (2000-4000’). Then higher up, like around 5000-6000’, I’ve seen the larvae on Prunus. Then at high elevations above 7500’, they are replaced with P. rutulus, which I think feeds on aspen. The Limenitis follow a similar pattern, transitioning from L. archippus obsoleta -> L. artemis arizonensis -> L. weidemeyerii as you go from low to high elevation.

While we're on the topic of tiger swallowtails, it's worth mentioning another spectacular member of the glaucus species group, P. pilumnus, which is only a quite rare stray into the US -


https://albertvick.com/2012/05/12/anima ... pidoptera/

livingplanet3 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 22, 2023 4:00 am While we're on the topic of tiger swallowtails, it's worth mentioning another spectacular member of the glaucus species group, P. pilumnus, which is only a quite rare stray into the US

This is a misconception based on the striped wing pattern. Papilio pilumnus belongs to the Pterourus group, with P. trolius and palamedes, whereas the glaucus group is separate from these three species.

Adam.

adamcotton wrote: ↑Sun Jan 22, 2023 8:13 am

livingplanet3 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 22, 2023 4:00 am While we're on the topic of tiger swallowtails, it's worth mentioning another spectacular member of the glaucus species group, P. pilumnus, which is only a quite rare stray into the US

This is a misconception based on the striped wing pattern. Papilio pilumnus belongs to the Pterourus group, with P. trolius and palamedes, whereas the glaucus group is separate from these three species.

Adam.

Is there something new, or did I misunderstand Vernygora et al "Gauging ages of tiger swallowtail butterflies using alternate SNP analyses " (2022)

"Namely, P. multicaudata is a sister group to a clade comprising two sister-species groups, (P. rutulus, P. eurymedon) and (P. appalachiensis, P. canadensis, P. glaucus)."

According to the graph, troilus, scamandar, and garamus differentiate as a differing clade from the same point as the above clades.

adamcotton wrote: ↑Sun Jan 22, 2023 8:13 am

livingplanet3 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 22, 2023 4:00 am While we're on the topic of tiger swallowtails, it's worth mentioning another spectacular member of the glaucus species group, P. pilumnus, which is only a quite rare stray into the US

This is a misconception based on the striped wing pattern. Papilio pilumnus belongs to the Pterourus group, with P. trolius and palamedes, whereas the glaucus group is separate from these three species.

Adam.

I wasn't aware of that - I thought that the Troilus group consisted only of P. troilus and P. palamedes, and that both the Troilus and Glaucus groups were classified under the subgenus Pterourus?

Chuck wrote: ↑Sun Jan 22, 2023 4:55 pm Is there something new, or did I misunderstand Vernygora et al "Gauging ages of tiger swallowtail butterflies using alternate SNP analyses " (2022)

Sorry if you are confused ... I said Pterourus GROUP, not GENUS.

The type species of Pterourus is Papilio troilus, so strictly there are only a few species in the Pterourus GROUP, which does not include the glaucus group species, so pilumnus is not "another spectacular member of the glaucus species group" as stated by livingplanet3.

Adam.

livingplanet3 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 22, 2023 6:50 pm I wasn't aware of that - I thought that the Troilus group consisted only of P. troilus and P. palamedes, and that both the Troilus and Glaucus groups were classified under the subgenus Pterourus?

I prefer to treat Pterourus as a subgenus of Papilio rather than a separate genus too.

Wu et al. (2015) originally placed Papilio/Pterourus pilumnus as sister to palamedes and troilus in their "Pterourus Group A".

See
Wu L-W, Yen S-H, Lees DC, Lu C-C, Yang P-S, Hsu Y-F (2015) Phylogeny and Historical Biogeography of Asian Pterourus Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae): A Case of Intercontinental Dispersal from North America to East Asia. PLoS ONE 10(10): e0140933. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0140933
Link (open access):
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/artic ... ne.0140933

Adam.

livingplanet3 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 22, 2023 6:50 pm I thought that the Troilus group consisted only of P. troilus and P. palamedes

You will see that P. esperanza is sister to these three species, and as a result of his separate analysis Nick Grishin described the new subgenus Esperourus 2020 in a paper "Genomics-guided refinement of butterfly taxonomy", with lots of other changes: see http://lepsurvey.carolinanature.com/ttr/ttr-9-3.pdf

This is one of a number of genomics papers from Nick Grishin's lab which change the classification of many butterflies.

Adam.

Here
http://lepsurvey.carolinanature.com/
is the link to the archive of all the papers in the journal "The Taxonomic Report", from 1998 onwards, including the original description of P. appalachiensis at
http://lepsurvey.carolinanature.com/ttr/ttr-3-7.pdf

The papers from Nick Grishin's lab appear from Vol. 8 onwards, but there are also many other interesting papers hidden inside this journal.

Adam.

Also worth mentioning is that the larvae of pilumnus, troilus, and palamedes are similar. They also all primarily feed on Lauraceae as caterpillars. Papilio pilumnus uses Litsea.