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Photo#1246897
Unknown Swallowtail - Papilio canadensis

Unknown Swallowtail - Papilio canadensis
Madawaska Lake , Aroostook County, Maine, USA
June 27, 2016
I've searched but cannot find anything similar to this butterfly....any ideas?

Moved

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

I suspect this is a hypermelanistic P. canadensis. Individuals of several tiger species may exhibit increased melanin, particularly in the females (in a couple of the taxa, melanic females can be common and even out number the yellow forms in parts of the ranges).

 
My initial thought was Canadian but not aware of a dark form
Increased melanin would explain the unusual appearance. Also location favors P. canadensis

 
I expect
this is a one-off and isolated kind of aberration. It is very unlikely that it is linked to the well known "dark forms" in tiger swallowtails, so the absence of dark forms in one species or another probably does not matter. Any butterfly species can rarely exhibit increased melanism.

The "dark form" genetics create an all-over dark butterfly without discrimination, while this is involving only a portion of darkening. Thus it must be a different genetic mutation because the behaviour is not alike.

 
Pictured above: Female P. canadensis f. "fletcheri"
This type of mutation/aberration, although rare, has been documented with some frequency in P. canadensis (f. fletcheri) with similar anomalies also known to occur in several other Tiger Swallowtail species (incl. glaucus, multicaudatus and rutulus)

Nice Article with similar anomalies
Aberrant Tiger Swallowtails

In Papilio canadensis, this phenotype is known as “fletcheri”
Another example here on BG of a dark mutation (also likely canadensis f. "fletcheri" - in this case looks to be a male)


Internet searches also produce images of multicaudatus, rutulus and glaucus with similar dark margins and fusion of pattern clearly divergent from the typical dark forms of the female glaucus (+maynardi), alexiares (+garcia) and appalachiensis.

An intermediate between the dark and yellow forms of
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.


Tiger swallowtail
This is one of the tiger swallowtails. There is a light form and a dark form in some species, and this one may be a very unique mix of the two. However I suspect this is just a "dark" light form, in that it is a light form with excessive dark pigmentation, with no reference to the actual dark form.

I have never seen one like this, either way. Great pic of this rare individual...

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