This beauty stayed long enough for a few good shots on Monday.
As far as I can tell, it’s an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, but I’m no expert. It was perched on the flowers of one of our crape myrtles.
Many of the butterflies of Georgia have names that are appropriately charming. A sampling of names: the Baltimore Checkerspot, Banded Hairstreak, Common Buckeye (a real beauty I have never seen), Coral Hairstreak, Diana Fritillary, Dreamy Duskywing, Falcate Orangetip, Fiery Skipper, Great Spangled Fritillary, Hackberry Emperor, Mourning Cloak, Pearl Crescent, Red-Spotted Purple Admiral, Sleepy Orange Sulfur, Zabulon Skipper, Zebra Longwing, and not the least, the Monarch.
Check here for photos.
“Fritillary” is a Eurasian plant of the lily family, with hanging bell-like flowers, or a butterfly with orange wings checkered with black. The word originates from the Latin for dice box. The flower and butterfly names apparently come from the checkered pattern, but I’m not sure I get the reference. “Falcate” means curved like a sickle, from the Latin for a sickle.
With the names of the butterflies being so appealing, the name for their study seems unfortunate: Lepidopterology, from the Greek “scale” and “wing.”
Beautiful Swallowtail there! This summer we have seen more Western Swallowtails than ever before. It’s been going on for months. Not very many other species though. Thinking about Fritillary made me check Dharma Bums to see if/when we saw one. Yes, once back in 2009! What a beauty. Ah, butterfly season is so wonderful. Too bad about that unfortunate name of study though. Yikes. Sounds like a skin disease.
Robin — I keep seeing some others. One is yellow. It might be a Sleepy Orange Sulfur, but all I ever get is a glimpse as it flits across the yard, like it has important business elsewhere. Another is black, but I can’t seem to get close enough to figure out which one it is. It might be a Red-Spotted Purple Admiral. Writing those names makes me smile.