Poor photo/Major success!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!
Whew! This butterfly did not pose! It was never motionless, and I have lots of terrible shots among the 25 frames shot and the 8 that were in “semi-focus” and kept.

This is a Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus; family Papilionidae; subfamily, Papilioninae), which mimics the distasteful Pipevine Swallowtail in appearance.

The major success is not just identifying this butterfly as a Spicebush Swallowtail (which was a minor coup in itself for me), but this image. Although it’s not a very good photo, it was wonderfully helpful in ID’ing the species. The BAMONA page gives this information for identifying Papilio troilus:
“Upper surface of forewing is mostly black with ivory spots along margin. Upper surface of hindwing has orange spot on costal margin and sheen of bluish (female) or bluish-green (male) scales. Underside of hindwing with pale green marginal spots.”
This image captured those orange spots on the upper surfaces of the hindwings. Very few images of this species seem to capture this feature.

Confirmed at BAMONA as Papilio troilus or “Spicebush Swallowtail”; http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/sighting_details/908648

One year ago (“Got cicadas?”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2012-07-04
Two years ago (“Fourth of July”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2011-07-04

[Tara]

Great persistence to get get this shot. Now what do you have against the Pipevine? ;)

[Thom Mitchell]

@tara11 Ha! Good one, Tara! The only thing I have against the Pipevine is that I haven't seen one yet this year! With 2 different types of Eastern Tigers, a Zebra and this Spicebush, I've now seen all the swallowtails I've previously photographed … except the Pipevine! "Where have all the Pipevines gone? Long time passing. Where have all the Pipevines gone…" ;)

[MaryBeth Dailey]

What a great feeling it must be to capture this! Is there such a thing as Black Swallowtail? I see "Black ones" .....is there such a thing as a Black Swallowtail? Congrats on your great capture!

[Thom Mitchell]

@espyetta Thanks, MaryBeth! I'm still tentative in identifying some butterflies that have one or more look-a-likes, but I was pretty sure about this one, even though there are some that are very similar. I haven't seen a Black Swallowtail in these parts, but they can be here; see http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Papilio-polyxenes

[Rick Schies]

Patience pays off. Nice job.

[Ramona]

beautiful!