Tag Archives: papilio appalachiensis

A Tale of (More Than) Two Butterflies

*Appalachian tiger swallowtail butterfly is hybrid of other swallowtails*

Flitting among the cool slopes of the Appalachian Mountains is a tiger swallowtail butterfly that evolved when two other species of swallowtails hybridized long ago.

It’s a rarity in the animal world, biologists have found.

They discovered that the Appalachian tiger swallowtail, Papilio appalachiensis, evolved from mixing between the Eastern tiger swallowtail, P. glaucus, and the Canadian tiger swallowtail, P. canadensis. (more…)

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