Tiger SwallowtailsBy Safiya Topiwala

Physical Description Their wingspan can be up to 4 to 8

inches. The males are yellow with black tiger stripes. A female’s coloring can be anything from completely black to that of a male’s coloring. If they live in Georgia their coloring has a little hint of orange. A large black border surrounds the edge of the wings.

Habitat Tiger swallowtails are found from

Alaska and that side of Canada all the way down to the southern states, including east of the Rocky Mountains. They live in nearly every area where deciduous (falling off) forests are present, including towns and cities. They are most numerous along streams and rivers and in wooded swamps, they also live in woodlands and gardens.

Food Habits Tiger swallowtail caterpillars’ diets

consist of the leaves of various woody plants. These include poplars, mountain ash, birch, cherry, tulip tree, ash, basswood, apple, maple, willow, magnolia, and occasionally sassafras.

BehaviorAs with most butterflies, Eastern tiger swallowtails tend to be solitary. Tiger swallowtails, both male and females, are known to be high fliers. Groups of fifty of the butterflies have been seen in Maryland flying 50 meters high, around the tops of tulip trees.

ReproductionTiger swallowtails reach maturity in the late spring. Many generations are produced each year and the last mature butterflies remain or live into mid-autumn. The females only lay one shiny green egg on host plants one at a time. In the spring the brood is small compared to the much larger summer brood.

Additional FactsTiger swallowtails and all of the other swallowtail subspecies are not endangered, yet. As you go more southern into the tiger swallowtail habitat, the female’s wing coloring starts to get darker and the darker color gets more common.

Additional Facts (cont.)The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is the state butterfly of Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, and South Carolina, and is the state insect of Virginia.

Testing Time1. Do tiger swallowtails live in cities?2. How exactly does a tiger

swallowtail’s egg look like?3. What state’s state insect is the

tiger swallowtail?4. Tell the difference between the

male and female tiger swallowtail.

Testing Time (cont.) Bonus Round/5. What three

states have the tiger swallowtail as their state butterfly?

A. Alabama, Delaware, and GeorgiaB. Virginia, New Jersey, and DelawareC. Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire

I Hope You Learned A Lot About Tiger Swallowtails

z