This is my first time for the Pipevine, wow!! are they ever big eaters !!!
But they sure are beautiful, a friend gave me 11 caterpillars and I am thrilled.
Here is the cat.
A Pipevine Swallowtail at Last !!!
The chrysalis.
the butterfly from the side.
The butterfly from the top, I was so lucky to get this shot !!!
He's just beautiful!!
I miss those pipevine swallowtails so much - this is the first year I've been without them.
Sherry
Thank you Sherry.
I've got eggs on my plants! Aren't they amazing?
Yes they are, and the biggest eaters, and very active too those cats are constantly in motion.
My three cats that I had gotten at a ladies' house were put out on my vine so they could encourage the others to lay eggs. Then when two had disappeared I couldn't stand it, I brought the last one in. I raised it and it turned dark a couple nights ago and yesterday morning I took pictures, but alas...it died. :-(
Those are great pictures Josephine! I am going to get back with the lady and see if she has another that is running out of food.
My last three haven't eclosed yet, I hope they make it alright, sorry about yours.
Best of luck with your results Josephine. The cats I took in were all fully grown and ready to pupate, may have had a parasitic problem.
Send some over here will ya, I got a ton of plants and no PST'S . Remember I have tons of "fimbriata" seeds if anyone needs them.
My seedlings are doing great Peg! Hope to see some PVST on mine too. May go back to the lady and get some cats to release on them.
Mine are doing great too Peg, thank you for your thoughtfulness.
It's nice to see ya'll so excited about Pipevines. Must admit I don't give them a second look most days. They are so abundant out here.
Still can't figure out how the little bitty aristolochia erecta sustains so many caterpillars but there must be lots of it growing wild out in the back fields. I just can never seem locate it...or when I do it's already close to eaten to the ground by the caterpillars - and only then after spotting those bright orange buggers is when I notice it. Finally learned to stake out the plants with flags because I know there is a huge tuber underground and it will eventually sprout new leaves.
I keep trying to find a female ovipositing so I can share eggs with ya'll but since I only drive out there on the weekends it's not easy. Most days out here are in the 100+ temps so I don't stay out in the back fields vey long either.
Now if anyone has Polydamas eggs they want to part with do let me know :o) I've got some lonely aristolochia elegans and aristolochia fimbriatas. We don't get to see those out here very often.
Will remind ya'll that I did get excited when I had the Pipevines roosting in a tree behind the house at the ranch though - sure wish I could see that happen again!!! :o)
~ Cat
This message was edited Jun 26, 2009 9:20 PM
I remember that shot. I would have been so excited and jumping up and down, spooked them before I got the shot.
I don't think anything could have spooked them considering their huge numbers. The nightly roostings lasted for about two weeks then poof! I guess the butterfly hormones kicked in and they went their separate ways :o) I can still count a hundred or two on any given day out there. Wish all the butterflies were that abundant :o)
~ Cat
Sure beats my one at a time thru my yard!
Congrats, frostweed, I'm jealous! Great pictures!
Wow, that shot is amazing, Cat! I agree, I would have been hootin' and hollerin' so much. they would have for sure flown away. I am on my 3 year of trying to get some pipevine growing in my yard to attract them. I have had the native A.watsonii here, but with no success (the plant, or the butterflies) and now I have an A. fimbriata growing. I might be in trouble if it gets noticed this year, since it's still quite small, but none the less, I'd be tickled pink for some cats!! And wouldn't you know it, now my little A.watsonii is looking like it might be doing something. Go figure.
I'm happy though to at least have the PVST in my yard. I knew they were very attracted to the Red Bird of Paradise here. Maybe now they will put two and two together.
Thank you PiggyPoo, I am building up a stock of pipevines in the hope that they will grace me with their presence, we shall see. Patience is the name of the game.
Josephine.
Drove out to the ranch today. Saw plenty of Pipevines flying around and tried to follow the ones I saw flitting close to the ground - was able to find some a. erecta but no signs of eggs. Did find a gathering of early instars up on a couple of dried grass stalks. No signs of a. erecta near them so I plucked the grass stalks and moved the caterpillars over to one of the a. erecta plants I'd staked out.
Must say - they are sure easy to spot being that bright orange color :o) Gotta admit - they are sure cute!
So much easier than trying to look for hairstreak or blues caterpillars that always blend in with the leaves or flower buds they are on :o)
~ Cat
Those are really bright orange, mine were close to black with orange spots.
Is the bright color only early instars? The ones I had were dark also.
Nope, the Pipevine cats out here are bright orange 99.9% of the time :o) I've only seen one dark instar in the past few years. I like the bright orange - makes them really easy to spot from a good distance away :o) The bright orange coloring also serves as a warning to predators - I've never noticed any bugs or wasps trying to kill them.
This is the only dark form I've seen. Photographed this one on 06/13/09 and brought it home to raise. It emerged as a regular Pipevine - nothing different from the orange cats.
~ Cat
This message was edited Jun 27, 2009 9:27 PM
Neat pictures. My kids call those cats "gummy worm" cats. We get the dark ones out here. Just...not in my yard yet :(