Butterfly

Eastern tiger swallowtail

by Michelle Czaikowski Underhill, 2012.

[2]The North Carolina General Assembly designated the Eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) as the official State butterfly of the State of North Carolina. The bill was ratified on June 11, 2012 and approved on June 15, 2012.

The Eastern tiger swallowtail is native to North America and is generally considered the first North American butterfly to have been drawn. The first drawing of it was by John White [3]. White was an artist, cartographer, and is also known as the governor of the Roanoke Island colony that came to be known as the "Lost Colony [4]."

About twenty-five other states either have official state butterflies or have butterflies as their official state insect. Delaware, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia all either have the Eastern tiger swallowtail as their official state butterfly or as their official state insect.

Information about Eastern tiger swallowtail butterflies may be found at:

• Wildlife Junior Journal, New Hampshire Public Television: http://www.nhptv.org/wild/karnereasterntigerswallowtail.asp [5]
• Dodge, Greg. 2010. "Tiger swallowtails and others." NC Museum of Life & Science blogs. http://blogs.ncmls.org/greg-dodge/2010/08/04/tiger-swallowtails-and-others/ [6]

Additional resources:

Bowen, Liessa Thomas and Chris Moorman. 2002. Butterflies in your backyard: urban wildlife. North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, North Carolina State University [7]. Online at http://www.ncsu.edu/goingnative/ag636_02.pdf [8]

North Carolina General Assembly. 2012. "An act adopting the Eastern tiger swallowtail as the official State butterfly, designating the Shelby Livermush Festival as the official fall livermush festival of the State of North Carolina, designating the Marion Livermush Festival as the official spring livermush festival of the State of North Carolina, and designating the Swansboro Mullet Festival as the official mullet festival of North Carolina." Session Law 2012-29. Online at http://ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/SessionLaws/HTML/2011-2012/SL2012-29.html [9]

Image credits:

White, John. 1585-1593. Tiger swallowtail butterfly. British Museum. Online at http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=753484&partid=1 [2]. Accessed 6/22/2012.