An Illustrated Guide to Geographic Variation
in the Indra Swallowtail Butterfly
and its Larval Host Plants
 

by
 

Wayne H. Whaley, Ph.D.


A composite of two papers presented at

The Annual Meeting of the Lepidopterists' Society
held in Sierra Vista, Arizona, Aug. 6-8, 1999
&
The Annual Meeting of the Pacific
Slope Section of the Lepidopterists' Society
held in Grants Pass, Oregon on June 23-25, 2000


Photographs by Wayne H. Whaley unless stated otherwise.
This site will be periodically updated with new information.

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Title slide Prickly pear cactus (Opuntia sp.)


INTRODUCTION:

For about 19 years I have studied the Indra Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio indra) emphasizing its biology and distribution. I live near the center of its range, a logistically ideal situation for long term studies of this nature. A lot of my work has emphasized Utah and neighboring states, but I have covered nearly the entire known range of the species.

I introduce you to the Indra Swallowtail butterfly. This species has no North American (maybe World) rival amongst the papilionids as far as its geographic variation. Some of this variation is illustrated in the following photographs.

P. i. kaibabensis (top) &
phyllisae (bottom)

P. i. pergamus (left) &
minori (right) 5th instars



Lees Ferry specimen (top) &
fordi (bottom)

Two 5th instars: black from west desert,
UT on Lomatium grayi and pink
from St. George, UT on L. scabrum



Cream-colored 5th instar from
Grapevine Mts, Nevada.

The habitats of this species include some of the most scenic places in North America.
Kayenta and Wingate Sandstone cliffs
along the Colorado River, UT		 San Rafael Swell Desert, UT
Alpine habitat, WY Navajo Sandstone habitat
of southeastern Utah
Granite Mt, CA
(fordi habitat)		 Long Cyn. near
Moab Utah
Gold Butte, NV
Mohave Desert		 Columbia River Gorge, OR
Soda Mts, CA Granite Formations of eastern Wyoming
and South Dakota
Navajo sandstone outcrop
amongst Permian limestone in NV		 Navajo sandstone
common to UT
   
Navajo sandstone habitat nr.
Gunlock Res., St. George, UT


The purpose of this ongoing work is to document Indra Swallowtail geographic variation by delineating the ranges of the races (filling in the gaps) and locating zones of intergradation. Also I have studied the butterfly's biology, especially its Larval Food Plant (LFP) requirements. This is basic before meaningful DNA work should begin. Also the study of introgression patterns in zones of intergradation may shed insight into the genetics of wing pattern polymorphism in this highly plastic species.

Shown here are the 12 subspecies presently recognized within the Indra Swallowtail complex. Each of the subspecies will be indicated later.

Eight described subspecies Four of the described subspecies

The paramount question is, Why is sub-speciation in Indra Swallowtails so tremendous compared to other members of the North American machaon complex with similar ranges, in particular P. zelicaon? That question should be addressed in the near future.

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This resource may be freely used, but it is copyrighted by Wayne H. Whaley and Utah Valley State College.
Please credit us when using any part of it. If you have questions or comments, send them to whaleywa@uvsc.edu