When I’m out on summer walks with my camera, I take a photo of every bird and butterfly I encounter to remind myself later of what was up and about. If the creature is distant or hard to identify, I take lots of photos–free photos are one of the joys of digital versus film cameras. In the second week of August, I took a few photos of a distant Black Swallowtail and reported it to e-Butterfly along with the others. Little did I realize I was in for a surprise!
I noticed the nice blue on this butterfly from a distance.
Another New Butterfly in South Mississauga or Not Every Black Swallowtail is a Black Swallowtail
I had taken several photos of this Swallowtail, just in case it was a Pipevine Swallowtail. When I flipped through the photos at home, I saw a double row of orange dots on the under wing and thought “ok it’s a Black Swallowtail.” I added it to my e-Butterfly report and moved on to the laundry.
The double row of orange dots meant this was not a Pipevine Swallowtail.
A week or two later, when I looked at my checklist, I found my id had been contradicted. It was actually a Spicebush Swallowtail. I’ve never seen one before!
Look For the Star Trek Logo on a Spicebush Swallowtail’s Hind Wing
Once I had seen the corrected id, I went back to my photos and looked at them more closely. It’s true that the “swallowtails” were not sharply pointed. And the yellow dots on the tops of the wings were different.
You can see the Logo here.
What I found most interesting though, was that one of the blue marks looks like an upside down V. Or to my imagination, like the Star Trek logo worn on their uniform shirts in the olden days.
I’ve outlined the Logo here to make it more obvious.
Are Spicebush Swallowtails Rare in the Toronto Area?
There are scattered reports of Spicebush Swallowtails from both the Toronto and Hamilton areas. Their caterpillars usually feed on, wait for it, Spicebushes. They also eat Sassafras and a few other plants, though.
While blurry, you can probably see the “tail” is rounded not pointy.
There haven’t been many/any reports of Spicebush Swallowtails in Mississauga. That is probably for 2 reasons: 1) there aren’t many of the plants the caterpillars prefer and 2) I bet other people see them and think they are Black Swallowtails, just like I did.
How Did This Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly Behave?
At the time I was watching this butterfly I only noticed a few things. It hovered constantly while feeding, rather than perching. Lots of Swallowtails do this.
It was larger than many Black Swallowtails I’ve seen. That may be why as a vagrant it found it easy to travel far enough to appear near my trail.
Many butterflies nectar on the teasel in the meadow.
It was not in the Queen Anne’s Lace patch. Black Swallowtails often move around though too so that didn’t particularly surprise me.
Keep An Eye Out for the Unusual
Overall, I was very pleased to find I was mistaken in my identification. I wish I had seen it more than once but there’s always another chance on another day. For sure, I will keep taking photos!
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