zebra swallowtail

[Chris J. Durden]

Needs study. Recent lists reduce all names to synonyms or saeasonal forms.
As far as I know no-one has yet sorted out the details of the polymorphism
of this species. My limited encounters with *floridensis* look like a good
subspecies to me. Someone in Northern Florida or Georgia could make an
interesting study of this.

  Brown & Wilson, 1994 "Swallowtail Butterflies of the Americas" arrange
the forms as -
  spring/*walshi* (W.H.Edwards, 1872) 
  summer/*lecontei* (Rothschild & Jordan, 1906) in the north

  spring/*floridensis* (W.J.Holland, 1898)
  summer/*telamonides* (C.&R.Felder, 1864) in Florida

There is a zone through Jacksonville where all four forms have been found.

Holland, 1931 "The Butterfly Book" arranges the forms -
  spring/*carolinianus* (G.Edwards, 1771) - Carolinas (M. Catesby)
  = *marcellus* (Cramer, 1777) - no locality given
  = *walshi* (W.H.Edwards, 1872 - no locality given (IL?)
  summer/*lecontei* (Rothschild & Jordan, 1906) - Nasville, TN

  spring/*floridensis* (W.J.Holland, 1898) - St.John's River, FL
  summer/*telamonides* (C.&R.Felder, 1864) - "United States"
  =*ajax* (Linne, 1758) in part [name suppressed by ICZN]

If the southern populations are distinct the would have the name
*telamonides* rather than *floridensis*, unless someone can show the
picture is more complicated than this.

...........Chris Durden


At 11:35  3/02/00 -0500, you wrote:
>Is "floridensis" a valid subspecies of E. marcellus?  My books on Florida
>leps say it is, but other books say no.  Does anyone have any thoughts on
>this?
>
>Mike Philip
>Raleigh, NC
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