Backyard Butterfly

Images of undisturbed subjects in their natural environment. All subject types.

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Argusray
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Joined: Sun Jun 22, 2008 2:45 pm
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
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Backyard Butterfly

Post by Argusray »

Saw this little guy and was impressed by the colors of the critter and the plant.

Argusray

Image

Image

Both 40D, ISO = 200, f/11 @ 1/250, 100 mm macro, 550 EX strobe

salden
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Post by salden »

Looks like a male swallowtail and I am not sure but that might be Thistle.
Sue Alden

Argusray
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Post by Argusray »

salden wrote:Looks like a male swallowtail and I am not sure but that might be Thistle.
Thanks for the ID.

I was guessing it was a swallowtail, had no idea about gender. What charastic do you use to identify gender? "Thistle" is what we call those plants around here. :)

Argusray

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Argusray wrote:What charastic do you use to identify gender?
I don't know what Sue uses, but for Swallowtails, I look at the end of the abdomen. This photo clearly shows the claspers (valves) of a male.

Assuming this was shot in California, it's probably a Western Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio rutulus. In other areas, there are different species that look quite similar.

Nicely shot, by the way -- very sharp!

--Rik

Argusray
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Joined: Sun Jun 22, 2008 2:45 pm
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
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Post by Argusray »

Rik -

Thanks for the information. The photo was shot on the coast, about 75 miles south of San Francisco, so it fits the identification.

Argusray

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