Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Photo
Product Description
2004 Photograph, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus), Fairfax, Virginia © 2004.
An interesting side-light 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.
(Click on thumbnail above for larger view.)
