beginner requires ID of swallowtail (3 photos)

[Eric or Pat Metzler]

Giant Swallowtails occur regularly, less than 80 miles away, across the
pond, Lake Erie, in Ohio.  Also, this butterfly is a denizen of calcarious
soils, something that is all too common at Point Pelee.  So, the find,
always exciting, should not be too unusual.

Cheers too all as the weather in this part of the country turns cooler,
Eric Metzler
Columbus Ohio


"Pierre A Plauzoles" <plauzolesp at bigvalley.net> wrote in message
news:39D4D14E.588C66B6 at bigvalley.net...
> Bret Murray wrote:
>
> > I beleive you are right P crephontes giant swal.  A bit unusual to find
so far
> > north unless someone was rearing and released them. I dont think they
survive
> > winter so far north.
>
> It could have been blown north by storm winds.  I think it occurs
naturally within
> some 200 miles.  Check with a natural history museum or academic
entomology
> department on that to be sure.
>
> > "S.M.L." wrote:
> >
> > > I am not presently involved in the study of butterflies, but having
acquired
> > > a digital camera recently, I have been experimenting with taking macro
> > > photographs of insects. I was fortunate enough to get three reasonably
good
> > > shots of a butterfly on a beach while visiting Point Pelee National
Park in
> > > S. W. Ontario on August 11, 2000. My curiosity was raised, having
never seen
> > > this species of butterfly before. A quick search on the web identified
it as
> > > a type of swallowtail and I believe it to be a Giant Swallowtail, but
I
> > > couldn't find a good enough photo on the web to be sure. If someone
could
> > > help me to ID this butterfly, I would appreciate it greatly. If anyone
would
> > > like full size copies of these photos (approx. 1600x1200 pixels and
> > > 350-400kb) I would be happy to e-mail them.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > Steve Loxton
> > >
> > > sluggo7 at hotmail.com
> > >
> > >  [Image]
> > >
> > >  [Image]
> > >
> > >  [Image]
>