Three Old World Look-Alike Swallowtails: An Ecological Jintishi Poem

Sail, scarce swallowtails!

Orchards, fields entice.

Slow for plummy shrubs:

Nectar ... breaks are nice.

Jintishi (近體詩) can be rendered into English as "modern form poetry." But it can be understood as a type of verse from ancient China. It indeed exists as a 2,000+-year-old poetic form. It is called modern because of changes introduced during the Tang Dynasty (618-906).

The jintishi can be recognized by its strict rules. It honors poetic structuring of precisely articulated parts into predictably organized wholes. Structuring involves grammar, rhyming, subject, and tone.

Concerning grammar, each line expresses a complete sentence. One rhyme scheme links all sentences in even-numbered lines. But the opening line also may participate in rhyming.

Regarding theme, poets face no restricted matter. But there is a tendency towards the following:

• Presenting the big within the small and the universal within the particular;
• Using allusion, particularly regarding historical figures and political events.

Additionally, the third line serves to change direction or turn the thought around. That change or turn will be emphasized by a pause before the reading of the last three syllables in the fourth line.

Respecting patterns, four tones balance: level, rising, falling, entering. How does tone affect the adaptation of jintishi to English poetry-writing efforts? As a non-tonal language. English makes no such demands as level versus deflected tones. But its correct pronunciation requires an understanding of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Predictable alternation of stress and non-stress contributes to the making of an English language equivalent of the jintishi. A jintishi line in English therefore is made up of syllables which answer the commands of "Stress!" and then "Don't stress!" Challenging situations may arise since not all words have two syllables and a word's first syllable is not always stressed.

Regulations also affect line count. Concerning lines, the jintishi can express one of three options. Specifically, it can draw upon the four-line count of a quatrain. Or it draws upon the eight-line count of an octet. Or it may draw upon the variable count of a poem of theoretically unlimited length.

Regarding syllables, the jintishi generally involves five or seven syllables. It infrequently may comprise six syllables. But either way, all lines must follow the syllabic pattern set in the first line. The jintishi which begins with five syllables therefore needs just five syllables in each succeeding line.

The jintishi differs in name depending upon line count. Specifically, the four-lined jintishi is called a jueju (絕句). The jueju is categorized as a wujue (五絕) if it has five-syllable lines. It is considered a qijue (七絕) if it has seven-syllable lines. Either way, the jueju often is described as a broken off, cut off, truncated form of the jintishi octet.

The eight-lined jintishi generally is designated a lushi (律詩). But one with five-syllable lines is a wulu (五律). Jintishi with seven-syllable lines is a qilu (七律).

A pailu (排律) is a variable-lined jintishi.

The jintishi assumes the form of the jueju in the sample poem about scarce swallowtails. The poem can be classified specifically as a wujue. The alternating stressed/unstressed pattern of 20 syllables may be read as follows:

SAIL, scarce SWAL-low-TAILS!

ORCH-ards, FIELDS entice.

SLOW for PLUM-my SHRUBS:

NEC-tar ... BREAKS are NICE.

Scientists sometimes categorize the scarce swallowtail into one genus (Iphiclides) which has one species (I. podalirius) and two subspecies. Or sometimes they confer full species status upon the two subspecies. Researchers therefore may find a confusion of scientific classification.

The scientific confusion further can be aggravated by the visual confusion of actual swallowtail sightings. The scarce swallowtails look very similar. Additionally, they may be confused with yet another swallowtail. Fortunately, differences in geographical distribution will come to the rescue in identifying the southern scarce swallowtail, the Chinese scarce swallowtail and the British swallowtail butterflies.

Scientists initially gave subspecies status to the evenly-striped, long-tailed southern scarce swallowtail. The butterfly now may be found classified as Iphiclides feisthamelii, with full species status. The genus name Iphiclides memorializes Iphicles (Ιφικλής), half brother to Heracles (Ηρακλής), the strongest hero in ancient Greece. The species name feisthamelii remembers the achievements of French entomologist Joachim Francois Philiberto de Feisthamel (1791-1851).

Iphiclides feisthamelii can be found in select areas inland from the southernmost Mediterranean Sea. Specifically, it is native to the Iberian Peninsular countries of Portugal and Spain. It also makes up part of the fauna native to the North African countries of Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.

The southern scarce swallowtail egg is laid singly on the undersides of leaves. It initially looks clear, light and translucent. But it reddens as it nears hatching time.

Newly-hatched caterpillars are black and hairy, with two yellowish white upper patches. The first two instars, or larval stages, have the look of bird droppings. The remaining instars sport a bright green color. But all instars will feed from the following host plants:

• Apple (Malus);
• Cherry (Prunus);
• Hawthorn (Crataegus);
• Peach, pear (Pyrus);
• Rowan (Sorbus).

The butterfly is the adult or imago stage of the southern scarce swallowtail. It may be seen flying over warm meadows. It will be active between March and September.

As with the southern swallowtail, the long-tailed, more dark than light-striped Chinese scarce swallowtail can be found categorized with subspecies status. But it generally is classified as Iphiclides podalirinus, with full species status. The species name podalirinus recalls Podaleirios (Ποδαλείριος), legendary healer in Greek mythology and son of Asclepios (Ασκληπιός), the ancient Greek god of healing and medicine.

Iphiclides podalirinus can be found in eastern Tibet and western China. A visit must be made at the end of spring, particularly in the transition days between May and June. Specifically, visitors need to be in the following areas to have any possibility of seeing the one to three specimens which may show up during a narrow window of opportunity:

• The area around Paksho in Tibet's Qamdo Prefecture and valleys at mountainous heights of 9,842+ feet (3,000+ meters);
• The northern parts of the Sichuan and Yunnan provinces of China.

Lepidopterists who realize successful sightings in such dry habitats generally attribute the accomplishment to the presence of flowering fields and the proximity to water. Specifically, Chinese scarce swallowtails favor flowering shrubs such as blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) or pink lilac (Syringa spp). Additionally, males may cluster in groups of 10 on sand at the edges of water bodies.

Those who see the Chinese scarce swallowtail often experience a double, rare lepidopteran treat. In eastern Tibet, they may view the Leech butterfly (Polyura posidonius) in the same clustering and flying places as the swallowtail. In western China, they may witness the Chinese byasa butterfly (Byasa daemonius).

Scientists generally categorize the shorter-striped and tailed British swallowtail as Papilio machaon ssp britannicus. They do so, because they consider it a subspecies of the Old World swallowtail (Papilio machaon). The Old World swallowtail also is called the common yellow swallowtail.

The genus name papilio can be translated from Latin into English as "butterfly." The species name machaon derives from ancient Greek mythology. It refers to Machaon (Μαχάων, Makhāōn), legendary physician and son of Asclepios (Ασκληπιός), the god of medicine and healing.

The British swallowtail can be found only in the fens and lakes of Norfolk Broads of eastern Anglia in eastern England. In contrast, the Old World swallowtail inhabits a far wider geographical area. It indeed is native to continental Europe as well as to the following areas of eastern Asia and North America:

• Eastern Asia: Bhutan, China, India, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Yemen;

• North America: Alaska in the United States of America; Canada.

The British swallowtail egg is deposited on exposed, tall flowering plants near the milk-parsley (Peucedanum palustre), the sole larval host food plant. Egg-laying happens between June and mid-July. Eggs look like tiny light yellow spheres. They turn darker just before the hatching date of 1+ week.

Caterpillars are active between the third week in June and the fourth week in July. The newly-hatched larva eats its eggshell. The first two instars have the look of bird droppings. But in the succeeding instars, the color is bright green. An orange osmeterium behind the head releases a rotting pineapple smell whenever the caterpillar is threatened.

Four weeks after hatching, the caterpillar enters the pupal stage, between the fourth week in July and the first week in the following June. The pupa looks greenish yellow before and after its black-on-brown overwintering colors. It will be found, attached upright and low down on the stems of reed and sedge plants about 32 feet (9.75 meters) from its last feeding.

The adult, or imago, stage begins between the fourth week in May and the first week in July. But a second generation sometimes emerges between the first and last weeks in August. Either way, the adult exists to fly, mate and sip. Mating, which lasts for several hours, happens the very morning on which the female emerges from the pupa. Sipping, during which wings continue to beat, involves the nectar of the following plants:

• Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scriptus);

• Devil's-bite sabrous (Succisa pratensis);

• Ragged robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi);

• Red clover (Trifolium patense);

• Teasel (Dipsicus fullorum);

• Thistle (Carduus spp, Cirsium spp).

The three above-mentioned swallowtails superficially exhibit the differences and similarities of separated triplets. The most obvious difference is range although geography leads to differences in larval food and adult nectar sources. The most obvious similarity is sailing flight over flowering fields and open woodlands, with pollinating breaks for nectar.

My special thanks to talented photographers/artists/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

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Kirby, William Forsell, and Richard Bowdler Sharpe. A Hand-Book to the Order Lepidoptera. Part I. Volume 2. London: Edward Lloyd, Ltd., 1896.

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"What Is Jintishi?" Classical Chinese Poetry: Understanding Jintishi. Washington Chinese Poetry Society. Last accessed March 13, 2012. (available at: http://www.classicalchinesepoetry.com/jintishi-is.htm)

Copyright Tuesday, February 7, 2012 by Derdriu