Nice picture of the viceroy...Viceroy! LOL! We don't get those this far up that I know of.
Mimicry, a fun one. 5th instar of Tersa sphinx moth on Penta's flowers.
The future pollinator. This is the brown form T.S. instar after a big storm -- tough bird! Oh I meant caterpillar, lol. There is also a green one awaiting to pupate soon.
Got a lovely visitor on the Butterfly bush yesterday.
Temp. was really hot, I had an exudus of these Catalpa caterpillars ... I thought these poor things were ready to wander off to pupate? At the the end of the day. There were several of them hanging out on limbs of non-hostplants. So I decided to take 3 inside a butterfly cage to observe their molts....
They continue to wander, and had shown no signs of 'settling down'. So I figured they may be hungry. Sure enough, the regugees were. It took no time for one to find the catalpa leaves/branch I brought indoor. And now, the 3 are happily chowing down.
Two years ago on vacation the catalpa cats were out in force and I decided to grab one and see what happened with it. My grandma couldn't believe I wanted a catalpa "worm" and I had to tell her that it would turn into a moth. She couldn't believe those worms turned into anything; it was hilarious. By the way, they apparently make wonderful fish bait; I read where they used to farm them for just such a thing. But I would never do that to a caterpillar. : )
Melanie
They're really fast moving cats. Glad you've shared that joy with your grandma. I'm looking forward to share the joy with my grandchild when he visits next time. lol. Be assure, they aren't fishbaits around here. DH doesn't fish much in which I'm okay with that. lol
I just had two BSTs pupated, they both look somewhat smaller than the last brood. I wonder why? Anyhooo, the 3 Catalpa cats are active still. Two wander around, one still munching likes there is no tomorrow.
Outdoor, my brown Tersa sphinx cat. has wandered off, left the green one on the pentas this evening.
Don't get me started on Tersa Sphinx moths!! They've been a "problem" for me all year. Somehow a pair or more of them got inside my flight cage over winter when I moved some pentas inside and planted them. It was not intentional at all. Well, they reproduced so well that I've easily removed a couple of hundred of them over the last few months. Needless to say, my pentas look horrible in the flight cage! It got to the point that I removed most of the pentas and have pretty much gotten a handle on the problem now (I think!). I found these two in there a week or so ago, flaunting their reproductive destructive nature right in front of me! They were quickly removed and released outside. Tersa Sphinx in nature are not nearly so destructive. Oh, sure, they'll munch down a pentas or two, but predators keep them in check for the most part (and the plants recover). In my flight cage there were no predators. I'm just hoping that I've got them all out of there now.
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
Omigoodness. You all have been busy and all the critters are awesome - love the escapees. :)
I saw my first Monarch tonight. 2 weeks earlier than "normal" for the first appearance, but very glad!
Also noticed many BST on dill which may come in tomorrow. I'd seen a single cat a couple of weeks ago, but it disappeared overnight.
I didn't grow senna this year - well interestingly enough -seeds that did not sprout the first time sprouted about a month ago. The 3 small plants are chewed to bits. Don't suppose I'll get one to bloom this year either.
A.
The past two days a Buckeye, three Black Swallowtails, two Monarchs, and the usual Sulphers;. That is more than I have seen since April?
A TigerSwallowtail and an American lady?
Had 2 eastern swallowtail, a question mark trying to compete with flies for a dish of spoiled fruit, and 2 monarch today, in addition to crazy skippers AND we pulled in 7 BST cats from a fennel plant. There were gads of them on a nearby dill that were gone this morning when I went to look for them.
Let the rearing begin. :/
A.
Oh Joy!!! ^_^
Just got back from Cozumel and found these large butterflies around the island. Maybe a Blue Morpho? Of course, my daughter was able to coax one to crawl on her finger. I never could get a good picture of the dorsal side, very bright blue in color. Still not much happening in my yard, though.
Russell
Yes I think that's it Russell - someone just sent me a photo with a blurb about this beauty. What a treat! :)
Russell ~ Great picture of one of the prettiest butterflies!! How lucky!!
Russell -- the first two pictures are Owl Butterflies (Caligo sp.); the third is a Blue Morpho (Morpho peleides, probably).
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
Thank you for the Id Dale. I guess I never saw the top of the Owl Butterflies, I thought they were all the same species. Ally was always finding some new critters to play with down there!
I wish we had those here...they are spectacular.
Russell
Russell -- easy to get them confused. Owls have eyespots on the undersides just like Morphos. There's also blue on the upper sides of some owls as well, but not the intensity of the morphos.
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
I think I found the first monarch on a tropical MW. It's so small I couldn't possibly contain it if I brought it in now!
I finally braved the weather despite my swearing I wasn't coming out of the house until late September. It's a good thing I did because I found two Giant ST eggs on my mother's Meyer Lemon tree. That thing has been there for years and this is the first time I've seen eggs on it. The rue was completely empty - go figure!
I also saw this guy hanging out on the milkweed. I spotted some eggs too, but this was the only Monarch caterpillar I saw.
Here's a skipper enjoying the Spanish Needles. I guess that means I need to weed the butterfly garden again (sigh).
This Gulf Frit was laying eggs on the passion vine. My Dad was like, "Why is it upside down?" Because that's the way they do it. Crazy things.
And here's one of those crazy Gulf Frit caterpillars. Dad says they're not eating fast enough. The passion vine is going up the house, LOL!
Melanie
I took this picture of this road warrior thinking he had reached the end, but then he took off again and started chasing one of the girls around. what amazing creatures!
Red spotted purple, one of my favorites
Haven't posted for awhile so I have some catching up to do; all the photos I took walking around our gardens over the last couple weeks. These are of a couple of silver spotted skippers
Various TST's
Our friend Viceroy came to visit w/ a great spangled fritillary
My daughter just came back from a cat hunting expedition. We're starting to stock up because DW and I are going to do a tagging workshop early next month, and we hope to have many to tag.
common buckeye
and last, but not least the monarch
Loving the Monarch population going up in OH. Great pictures everyone.
Great photos all!
Russell
A little Olive Hairstreak (Callophrys gryneus) that I found down in the Texas Hill Country about a month ago.
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
Thanks, Dale! Nice!
Really great series of pictures. Especially the upside down Frit (Mel) and the green hairstreak!
Been raining here all week. Rreminds me a bit of last spring, though we have 7 BST chrysalis and there's a monarch or 2 cats out there on the tropical MW that have been too small really for me to grab. Hope they're hanging on in the wet weather.
No rain here...still in the 90's...GRRR....
Dallas is going to aerial spray for mesquitos....I know you must be concerned Dale.
