Again, I woke up early and I'm like, "Why?" But I went to Panera and got an Asiago bagel and some of their awesome lemonade so I guess it's all right. I plant to do some gardening after I eat, but it's gonna be messy. Everything is so wet from the pouring rain we had yesterday. But I'll be dealing with bromeliads so I tend to get wet anyway.
Ann, I have read differing accounts on whether or not the Giant Swallowtail or the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is the largest butterfly in the United States (maybe North America, I forget). My field guide shows a wingspan of 3.5 to 5.5 inches for the Tiger and 4.5 to 5.5 for the Giant. So I guess the Tigers vary more, but I've read other sources that consider the Tiger to be the largest in this area. And from what I've seen, I tend to agree.
Now, in nature females tend to be larger a lot of the time since they have to carry the babies and all that. Don't ask me what went wrong with humans.
You can tell the difference in the sexes of the yellow form of the Tiger ST because the female has way more blue scaling on her. The dark form is always female so she has to breed with a yellow male. The dark form is a mimic of the toxic Piipevine Swallowtail, which several butterflies mimic. Notice how many butterflies have that blue scaling at the bottom? The Spicebush, the Red-Spotted Purple, the dark form Tiger. All are trying to look poisonous.
Since you live in North Florida, the Tiger has a few more host plants up that way. They've been known to use Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) which one did in my yard once but the caterpillars died. Up where my grandma lives in WV they are on the omnipresent Tulip Poplars. They're blooming right now, which I've never seen in person. My aunt posted pictures on Facebook and I was drooling. So you may have some other host plants nearby. I can't wait to see the pictures!
