Giant Swallowtail

In this part of the country we typically see 3 different types of swallowtail butterflies. Two of these swallowtail are yellow and look very similar. The more common of these two is the eastern tiger swallowtail and the other yellow is the Canadian tiger swallowtail, the range of both of these two overlaps in Minnesota with the Canadian primarily in the north and eastern in the south. The third type of swallowtail that we typically see is the black swallowtail, which as its name implies is black in color making it easy to distinguish.

In August of 2008 an eruption of a fourth type of swallowtail, the giant swallowtail, occurred in the south eastern part of the state. The giant swallowtail is one of the largest butterflies found in North America. Its typical range is the eastern half of the US up to Iowa and southern Wisconsin in the north and the Rockies in the west, as well as the south western US, Mexico and down into South America. The larval form, or caterpillar, is called an Orange dog because they are usually found feeding on members of the citrus family.