DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 66

wow, you're finding all kinds of stuff

But not what I'm looking for!! LOL

i know…

I found one yesterday that I swear had JUST hatched. it was so tiny and right next to the egg.

I like this site for milkweed "wildlife".
http://www.texasento.net/MWpix.htm
That last one looks like hoverfly larvae to me.

Woohoo, I think I have had a Painted Lady visit me this morning? This isn't real sharp, as I was too close but it shows the pretty underside of the wing.

And here is what it looked like from above. I looked it up on the internet and it looks like a photo of a Painted Lady butterfly. Such a lovely thing. The butterfly plants 'are' attracting them and I'm so happy to see them here.

Mary

this is the one I meant to upload of the underside of her/his wing ... I tried to remove the other one but not certain how to go about it.

Mary

Thanks Linda for that link!

OMGosh...one of my eggs hatched!!! It is soooooooo tiny.....

ha. told ya. Wow, that is so white! mine seem more dark.

Two different BFs appeared about noon in my flower garden and behaving differently than what I've seen before. Both VERY bright orange. One stayed a long time after appearing to run the other one away. Would not light on anything, not nectaring but flying about 2 inches above the flowers like it was searching for something it couldn't find. This is the best photo I could get of it.

DNP

Found 2 of these yellow things on Prickly Ash. Is this a BF egg? Looks like something has been eating on the leaf.

Nanny....yes, that's a hoverfly larvae. They are good guys - they eat aphids and lots of them. It's pretty cool to watch them grab an aphid and suck it dry!!!


Dogs - looks like a Giant Swallowtail egg. Look around for birdpoo looking caterpillars :o)

~ Cat

This message was edited Jul 29, 2009 7:48 PM

The orange butterfly looks like a Gulf Fritillary to me.

DNP....You do have an egg there and it looks like the GST!!! As for the GF acting strange...they may be looking for Passion Vine to lay eggs, or mating. This pair tried several times to connect, but I gave up watching.

Later GF did come and settle on the zinnias again. Guess that's what the first two were. Such intense color. Got to learn more about the sex life of BFs. ROFL.

I now know just enough about BFs to be dangerous, I'm afraid. LOL. Found very small worms or cats on one pot of zinnias. They look sort of like webworms, though. Were moving around a lot and saw one spin silk "cord" to hang from leaf and move to different area. Would anything use zinnias as host plant? Don't have any Passion Vine in my yard except one small cutting that's rooting.

Have continued to see GST flitting around. Walked my legs off going back and forth to take photos and check on eggs on the Prickly Ash (Tickle Tongue tree). It is one that was cut down in the fence row and has regrown several trunks about 14 inches tall. Very healthy and just in time for the GST, I guess.

If I take a cutting, will the Prickly Ash root? Can't find one to transplant because they're all connected to old stumps.

The cat on the zinnia is probably a army worm or some other moth. I would toss it out in the pasture. Don't know any bfs that use it as a host.
As for the prickly ash....never had one. See on the plantfiles listing how it is propagated.

Yes, you are right I have two Toothache trees. Too many names for that one. I traded for them or was gifted them last year. Did you look it up? I haven't ever tried to propagate them myself.

I looked it up but under propagation says "tell us" or something like that. No information. None of the Prickly Ash/Tickle Tongue trees we have left are big enough to make seed. We had a very large one for many years but our Min. Donkeys ate the bark off of the trunk and it died. Min. Donkeys are hard on trees.

I found one more GST egg on the same foliage as the first two I found. Do ants attack BF eggs? The two Tickle Tongue bushes I examined both had a couple of ants foraging around on them. Of course, we have so many ants on our place that it is hard to find anything that doesn't have ants on it - including me. LOL.

DNP

Dogs...

We get some type of carpenter looking ant (you know the kind that are about half an inch long running around with a measuring tape and hammer) - anyway - they are always on the passion vines and seem to go for the sticky nectar but I have noticed there can be butterfly eggs on the leaves one day and they're gone the next. Am thinking those ants are having eggs for breakfast.

I squish them whenever I see them on my plants - they bite too. Vicious little critters!

~ Cat

I've tried planting MANY Z. hirsutum seeds from local plants. Germination was extremely difficult. I was only able to germinate one. Must be some trick to it.

LindaTX8, maybe it is like mesquite trees, the way they germinate so readily after making their way through a cow or horse's stomach(s).

I don't know that tree at all, but I know that's what happens with Mulberry trees. They so often come up on the side of a house, or in a fence line, because the seed needs to travel through a bird's digestive system to germinate. Bird sits on a fence, poos, and there you have it.

DH was in Stephenville, Tx, today and took this photo with his phone. Is this another Swallowtail? In comparing photos, we can't find anything that looks exactly like it.

DNP

Another shot of the same BF. The Texas sage is really putting on a show and celebrating the rain, isn't it?

This is photo of the Tickle Tongue tree (Prickly Ash) that I've been watching eggs on. I'm assuming (and going to be disappointed if it isn't) that the object that looks like a grain of rice is the first instar (is that correct term) of a Giant Swallowtail BF ???

DNP - now we know you're hooked - photos of butterflies with a camera phone :o) !!!

Not sure what that is on your prickly ash - but it's not a GST instar - looks like a leafhopper of sorts. GSTs will be striped brown and beige/orangish and look like they are covered with tiny spines/hair - then they quickly start to resemble a drop of bird poo. Am not my home computer so can't upload photos - but you can click on my screenname on the left side of this post and scroll down to "Actions" and then to 'read TexasPuddyPrint's garden diary' - look through the tabs - I have several butterfly life cycles on there - the GST is on there so you can compare photos.

or just click here to go directly to the Giant Swallowtail Life Cycle page
http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/t/TexasPuddyPrint/12488/

~ Cat

TexasPuddyPrint, thanks a lot. Your photos are beautiful and very helpful.

Yes, I think we are hooked. This is the first year we've had our landscape re-installed after about 5 years of horrific renovations which took everything down to dirt. (Reasons for that explained in my blog.) After so many years of nothing, have been amazed how many BFs have come to my flower garden. Maybe because almost no one else in the area has flowers, just shrubs they trim to resemble Q-tips. LOL.

Ok everyone, this thread is getting looooong. So let's continue the party at my new thread where I'll tell you all about the mysterious caterpillars that have arrived on my cherry tree.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1021824/


Melanie