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Appearance
The western tiger swallowtail has a wingspan that ranges from 2 3/4 inches to 4 inches. The butterfly is bright yellow with four distinct black striped markings mainly on its upper wings. The wings are edged in black and the longest black stripes on the butterfly are on the inner parts of the wings nearest to the insect's body. Western tiger swallowtails have long tails on their hind wings, or bottom wings, that resemble the tails of swallow birds. The hind wings also have small patches of blue and a spot or two of orange on them.
Lifecycle
A western tiger swallowtail begins its life in a green egg. When the egg hatches, a caterpillar emerges that has a body covered in rows of blue dots with four yellow dots near its head. The caterpillar's neck has stripes of black and yellow on it. The caterpillar is green in color, but later turns brown before the pupal or chrysalis stage, which is an intermediary stage between the caterpillar and adult butterfly stages. In the pupal stage, the caterpillar, now called a pupa or chrysalis, forms a cocoon and abstains from food or drink. In the cocoon, the pupa or chrysalis undergoes a physical metamorphosis to become a butterfly. In the last stage of development, an adult western tiger swallowtail emerges from the cocoon with wings. It takes about a month for the butterfly to move from the egg stage to the adult stage.
Diet
When the western tiger swallowtail is a caterpillar it eats leaves from trees and shrubs, such as willow, alder, cherry, ash, cottonwood, poplar and aspen. As an adult butterfly, the western tiger swallowtail does not eat leaves. Instead, it drinks nectar from flowers. Western tiger swallowtails are attracted to the nectar of such flowers as the California buckeye, zinnia, yerba santa and abelia. Butterflies have a proboscis, or tube-like organ, that helps them drink liquids.
Habitat and Range
The western tiger swallowtail has a wide range of distribution on the west coast of the United States and Canada. It occurs as far south as southern California, New Mexico and Arizona and as far north as British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. It can range as far east as southeastern and central Colorado and western South Dakota. In rare instances, the butterfly appears in central Nebraska. Western tiger swallowtails live in gardens, canyons, parks, wooded suburbs, sagebrush steppe, roadsides, oases and in woodlands near rivers and streams.