Hello and happy September!
When you see a dark butterfly in your yard do you have trouble identifying it? There are several dark swallowtails that mimic the Pipevine Swallowtail. And wow, are they convincing! When you just get a quick glance these can be hard to differentiate. It’s easy to see how a bird would be confused. All mimic the distasteful Pipevine Swallowtail.
Here are two compilations I created to help you identify these. I recommend you looking at these on a bigger device than your phone as that will make seeing the small text challenging.
It’s a lot to learn, as I well know since I’ve been struggling with this for years.
To summarize this, going from left to right in a clockwise manner, same as above.
Pipevine Swallowtails
- Have white dots on their abdomens
- Have one row of orange dots in a J shape on the outside of their wings.
- Inside their wings are mostly iridescent blue, with distinctive blue tails.
Eastern Black Swallowtails
- Have white dots on their abdomens
- On the outside of their wings have two rows of orange with blue in the middle
- In the center of these two rows of orange, at the bottom there is an orange dot with a black dot in the center
- When their wings are open, there are two rows of yellowish dots near the edge.
Eastern Tiger Swallowtails (Did you know eastern tiger swallowtails can be yellow or dark, but that only the FEMALE comes in the dark form. Thus, if you see a dark tiger swallowtail, you know it is a female)
- Do NOT have white dots on their abdomen. This is the easiest way to tell them apart, if you can manage to get a clear view of their abdomens. Remember, tigers have stripes, not dots.
- Have white dashes along the outside edge of their top, inside wing
- At the base of their wings, on the inside, the small crescent shapes are colored in orange
Spicebush Swallowtails
- Have white dots on their abdomens
- On the hind wing, have two rows of orange. There is a space though in the row closest to the abdomen where a clear triangle shape juts into the space, instead of a circular shape. This triangle extends down to the edge of the wing. This of this like a SPIRE. Spicebush = spire.
- In the inside of their wings, at the bottom hind wing are crescent shapes that look a bit like a fingertip, colored in a light blue.
There are two other dark butterflies, but neither of those have the distinctive tails of the swallowtails. You can see them here.
Hope this helps with identification. Let me know your thoughts. You can always write to me, using the reply box below the post. I’d love to hear from you1