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Photo#324063
Gender? - Papilio multicaudata - male

Gender? - Papilio multicaudata - Male
Iron County, Utah, USA
July 24, 2009
Size: 3 inches
I'm guessing this is a western tiger swallowtail but I'm wondering if its possible to tell the gender of butterflies from images.

color pattern of this one is
male.

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

Gender
Doesn't appear to be an easy answer to that one, at least for swallowtails. In Butterflies through Binoculars The West, the eight tiger swallowtails aren't IDed to gender. There are several other types of swallowtails. In each category, some are IDed to gender, some aren't.

Elsewhere, some butterflies can be IDed to gender by abdomen shape, and some by scent glands on the wings.

Short answer: Maybe.

 
speaking of Western tigers
Do they have a dark female form, like the Eastern tiger swallowtail? (I can't look it up right now, boss over shoulder...)

 
Apparently not.
I see nothing in the aforementioned book and haven't seen any in the wild.

Beautiful Shot!
Of a Two-tailed Swallowtail :)

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