Papilio zelicaon, Papilio polyxenes, & ♀ Papilio polyxenes × ♂ zelicaon Pinned Adult Photographs

​We have returned to Albany, California from Ithaca, New York as per Cornell University's winter closing, giving us a chance to see the  preseved hybrid ♀ Papilio polyxenes × ♂ zelicaon that eclosed while we were in Ithaca.

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In a post from last August (Albany Updates (8/23/17): ♀ Papilio polyxenes × ♂ zelicaon Adult Male), we mentioned how one of our hybrid pupae had eclosed back in Albany, California while our family was in Ithaca, New York. By the time our mother got home (of course, we stayed in Ithaca), the butterfly was evidently already beat itself up quite a bit based on photographs of the live specimen that our mother sent. But since we obviously did not want to opportunity to see this unique specimen go waste, we had our mother do the best she could to preserve it via pinning. She is nowhere near an experienced pinner, but her work is good enough so that we can more or less see everything on the butterfly. 

Below are the photographs of the front and back of this male hybrid. 

For some perspective, we also took shots of the hybrid next to pinned male P. polyxenes asterius and female P. zelicaon (wing pattern sexual dimorphism not too significant in zelicaon​, so should be an okay comparison). ​

At first glance, the hybrid may resemble the polyxenes more, simply because of the blackness. However, it should not take long to realize how it appears to be more or less a perfect intermediate of the two species.  

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Authors
Brian Liang

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