Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Papilio glaucus (Linnaeus, 1758), fam. Papilionidae, P-no. 77a0386
Host plants: Polyphagous, hosting on woody species in at least 20 families. In Missouri most commonly found on tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) and black cherry (Prunus serotina).
Date found(s): 3 September, 2026
Location(s) found: Ste. Genevieve County, MO
Notes: Eastern tiger swallowtail adults come in two color phases. Males are yellow with black wing margins and black vertical striping. Females are polymorphic, exhibiting a yellow phase as well as a dark phase. This is an interesting case of Batesian mimicry—when a harmless mimic adopts the warning signals (e.g. aposematic coloration) of a toxic or unpalatable species. In this case, the dark phase females closely resemble the pipevine swallowtail that are unpalatable due to the sequestration of aristolochic acids they obtain from their host plants. Lepidopterists have discovered that the dark phase mimics are more abundant in areas with higher numbers of pipevine swallowtails, and conversely, are rarely found in areas without their distasteful models.
A Thousand Acres of Silphiums 