CLOSED: CLOSED: What kind of caterpillar is this?

Is on my Passion Flower Clematis (Clematis florida var. sieboldiana) and is eating the plant up.

Also, what can be done about the infestation?

Thanks! leonardml

This appears to be a larva of a gulf fritillary (Agraulis vanillae); see http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/9/ for detailed information.

it won't kill your plant. Please don't kill them. If people keep killing all the caterpillars there will be no more Butterflies

For several years the gulf fritillary caterpillars ate my passion flower vines down to nubs... there was barely a leaf left much less a flower.
But this year the vines have gone crazy and I am getting blossoms. The butterflies seem to have come late and can't keep up with the vines. I like having both, the vines and flowers and bunches of butterflies!
I just wish the Monarchs would find the milkweed I have planted for them.

Monarchs come very late in summer for me--I have finally seen one (cat) in my good sized patch of milkweed. But I rarely see more than one or two a year. I'm going off to look now about a cat on my own Passion flower today--maybe its a local fritillary. I NEED something to eat my hardy Passi down some!

I'm getting similar looking caterpillars on my oleanders. Does this caterpillar like oleanders too?

christine

no the same but the Oleander moth
http://bugguide.net/node/view/6488/bgimage

I found these on my passion vine today and did not have to look long to find out what they are. I may have to reduce the number though. This is the only surviving plant that I was given as a cutting a couple of years ago and they are about to devour the whole plant. It has not even had a chance to bloom yet. Do they sting like some caterpillars with spines?

Don't worry about your vine. It will regrow if its anything like mine. I think the butterflies need more help.

Helen

I'm nuturing one (Gulf Frit.) caterpillar indoor now. My passi incarnata are awesome this year, please send your cats. my way. My passi is over running my garden. I've fruits this early too for the butterflies just now arrived.

I will give them a chance, maybe they would like some of the other vines growing on my back fence.

I don't think they eat much besides the passi vine.

Give the passi vine a chance too- when I got a pitiful cutting at a swap three years ago, it had "nine lives " and is now to the point where I am SURE I will NEVER be rid of it, even if I wanted to. The suckers, oh the suckers!!!

suunto, thanks for the link and no worries, DonnB, I don't like to kill anything. The butterfly in the link is coming back to the vine (see attached pix), I assume to lay eggs. Thanks for all the feedback and it's good to know the passi is hardy, I can't wait to get blooms. Mickey

Okay, I left the caterpillars alone and now they have eaten themselves out of house and home so to speak. There are no leaves left and they are now eating the vine itself. Do you really think there is hope that it will survive to come back next year? Also do you think they will pupate before they run out of food? I only have the one vine and they don't seem interested in anything else I've offered them.

cmsjjdr- I'm tellin ya, if you have a hardy passion vine like mine, it will come back with a vengeance. I'll guaranteee it or send you a new cutting next spring.

I second that sallyg.

I have three different types of Passion Vine and only those in the sun get defoliated. So when they get down to the stems, I move the cats to the other less used plants until they recoop. I thought I lost one last year, but suckers started coming up all over the flowerbed in the spring. Trust us, where you live you will be giving it away by this time next year.

Also one I have is evergreen it is 'blue crown' and doesn't die in the winter so it is ready for spring.

This message was edited Sep 20, 2009 10:46 PM

Sallyg, I will gladly take you up on that cutting if my vine does not survive. I will just have to wait and see. I know it dies back in the winter, but I don't know what kind it is. I girl I worked with a few years ago brought me cuttings from some plants her mother had with now names. I thought it died the first winter that I had it planted outside, but last summer it came back and grew pretty well. This year even better. It is in a very large pot with a yellow alamanda vine that is sunk in the ground. I mulch with about 8-12 inches of pine-straw in the winter. I kind of feel bad for the caterpillars right now as I don't know of anyone else with passionflower vines and there are cats from very tiny to quite large that are going to be very hungry soon. Any suggestions of what else they might eat?

Passiflora is the only thing they have as host plants. When the food runs out the larger will go into the pupa stage (chrysalis), and the smaller will go dormant for a few days to allow the vine to catch up. Also, you might check your Botanical Gardens in the area for established vines you can put them on.