Daily pictures #99

Lovely moth Dale, very sparkling...maybe dressed up for Mardi Gras?

Here is one of my favorite photos of the Polydamas caterpillars. They come out of egg cases and so are very sociable. Until they get ready to pupate, they will molt, eat, sleep in little groups. During peak season, the Polydamas butterflies will lay eggs about once a week, so there are various ages of caterpillars on the vines at the same time. Here is a younger one with an older, ready to pupate one. It looks to me like the younger is asking "grandpa" what he is up to.

Great photos Dale and vitrsna. I will have to watch for the moth, haven't seen that one.

Very colorful moth you've got there Dale, hi Sheila and everyone.

vitrsna wrote:

It is good to see some activity out there. We had a little sunlight on Saturday and I caught glimpses of a few visitors.

1. I am not sure what this is..they are pretty small, but I wasn't sure if they would sting, so I didn't touch them. They were on the lantana.

2. A regular in the garden.

3. Bombs away!

4. Very quick this one was.

5. The white stripes.

Russell

Very pretty Russell!

Next month there will start to be some warm days and hopefully the first sightings of butterflies for 2013 here in Indiana. I often will see a Mourning Cloak or two and some skippers and even Red-spotted purples sometimes in March.

Great pictures Russell!

Speaking of Polydamas...I had one emerge the other night while I was watching the nightly news. It had to spend the night in the house and Mom let it go in the morning. I better start checking my pipevines!

Melanie

Interesting mellie...i've never been aware of Polydamas' emerging at night. It appears that all my butterflies (all different kinds) emerge in the morning between about 9:00am and 10.30am, but all of these were raised and emerged outside. And these are the hours where the temperatures start of heat up and the sun is hitting most of the garden. The Queen Monarchs, for example, are almost always 9:30 am emergers...you can almost set you clock. Well, because it is night outside i'm never exactly sure that butterflies don't emerge. What is your experience generally? Was this butterfly raised inside? and do butterflies raised inside emerge at any time of night or day? I don't suppose it matters much, but it is something interesting to me.

Most of them emerge during the morning hours or at the latest, early afternoon. This guy was raised inside under a table lamp that we tend to keep on most of the day. I think that's the reason I get them coming out at all hours.

Melanie

Hi, I remember reading about choiya (sp) somewhere and also the rue.
What is the best variety to use for the butterflies? I looked up choiya and noone had it for sale. What is a good source? I'm ready for spring,,,,, love all the posts.

Elaine

Thanks for the insight, Melanie...i am fond of the Polydamas butterflies and caterpillars so it is good to hear about other people's experiences with them.

Elaine...I think you are referring to Choisya (you are only missing an "s"). It is in the Rutaceae family as is Common Rue. There are two species of Choisya that I know about (dumosa, dumosa v. arizonica, and ternera). I am trying Choisya dumosa v. arizonica in my garden this year for the first time. I had to grow it from seed sent to me from Arizona because, although both Choisyas are native to Mexico, the plants are not available here (i spent 4 months looking :-( I am hoping the Choisya will grow up and attract some swallowtails as the rue does. In my garden, i have always had Rue growing and the predators are very sure they will find tasty snacks there so i am hoping, by adding a Choisya, the eggs and caterpillars will have greater chances for survival. This is all experimental for me. Another appealing feature of the Choisyas is that they have white flowers that give a lovely fragrance of oranges.

Whoops! Elaine, i made a little mistake on a species of Choisya in the post above. I referred to "Choisya ternera" which is incorrect and should be "Choisya ternata" instead. :-O

thank you v.
will google it. and have been searching and found common rue also.
It is supposed to be 28 here tonight. brrrrrr, thinking of warm sunny Florida with my mom....sigh

Elaine, ooooh 28, yikes! I remember a couple of years ago it got down to +50 degrees F one night and the next morning every one was walking around with mittens and mufflers and heavy jackets on :-D

You will find plants and cuttings for sale online of the Choisya ternata. I cannot take advantage of this because the plants or parts of plants (except seeds) are not allowed to cross the border. I have searched and searched for seeds...so if, in your search you happen to run into some seeds for sale, i would appreciate very much the URL. I have so fallen in love with this plant. It gets fairly large and dense with those lovely orange scented white flowers. Still i think a rue is a good idea as well because this is most likely the plant with which the swallowtails are most familiar and then perhaps you could introduce them to the Choisya and see how things go. I would be so interested to know if the swallowtails take to the Choisya right away or if it will take them awhile.

It is the middle of February already and i'm sure Spring will arrive before you are ready for it.

Beautiful sunny but cold morning here. It did not get as cold over night as they had predicted which is fine by me!! A high today of around 30. Have some friends that are vacationing in Hawaii....I wish now that I had joined them!! lol

Yesterday was great weather...today not so much. I had a couple of BSTs visiting the trailing lantana yesterday. Beautiful!

Russell

Boy is it warm out there today! But the butterflies are loving it. I saw a Cloudless Sulphur and a Zebra Longwing in the yard. I was afraid the cold might have gotten the Zebras since I hadn't seen one in a couple of weeks but apparently some made it through the cold ok. I also released another Polydamas today. Then, when I came home, I found this Monarch cat munching away out front!

Melanie

Yet another Polydamas came out today and I brought in five Monarchs from my milkweed. At the museum today, I saw a Polydamas, Gulf Frit, Cloudless Sulphur, Long-Tailed Skipper, Zebra Longwing, and some unidentified skipper. So the butterfly diversity is definitely increasing. We also had our first Pipevine Swallowtail emerge so I took a picture for you guys.

Melanie

k, no clue to the name, but seen not leaving the narcissus for any reason...

Kittriana, a nice male eastern tiger swallowtail in February is a real bonus. This has me looking at my early daffs and pansies when the sun is shining for an early spring vistor.

Be a while before I see any here this year , nice pics to see!!!!!

We haven't had winter in the Houston area, we get lots of butterflies all year- and way too many moths. This one was on my truck radiator last year- in Indiana - as I was traveling west from Ohio on I74. I don't know it too...but it was a very pretty one.

Looks like a Luna moth As in the Lunesta sleep commercial ,I see a few every so often . Was it green?

This message was edited Feb 24, 2013 9:01 PM

No. it wasnt a Luna- we have those- i thot it a swallowtail of a butternut color

I take it back- it does look like a moth- but the color is true enough, yellowish. The Luna moths I've seen were twice this size and not moving in mid daylite

I saw a dark butterfly today...it was 69 degrees high.. I think it might have been black swallowtail, but it was flying very fast. Think spring will be early here.. Kwanzan cherries are already blooming, as well as some azaleas.

After my Polydamas came out, I had an Eastern Black Swallowtail emerge. Seems like they all know spring is here!

Melanie

Lots of bees are waking up from hibernation, but no butterflies here yet. Though, spring is well on its way it seems. I can't wait to see butterflies in the garden. Love those pics. from warmer zones.

kittrina...Pretty certain that that is a Luna Moth. If you look on bugfiles the pictures vary a lot in coloration, maybe with age, environment, time of year etc. Also size can vary with the availability of the host plant I imagine, just like butterflies. When out of food, they pupate early, thus a smaller adult. http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/805/

whoo hoo, saw the dark butterfly again today. It was a Mourning Cloak. Flying around too fast to get a pic. Also saw a yellow sulphur. After all the rain,,, it was wonderful to see a ray of sunshine..

Sheila is right. Definitely a luna moth (Actias luna). A very old, tattered and faded luna.

Thought I'd throw in a pic of one of my favorite caterpillars -- Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae). Have a number of these that I'm raising right now in the flight cage.

Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com

Neat Dale...I would love to find other cats to raise besides BST's or Monarchs.

Gulf Fritillary hopped onto the Tithonia rotundifolia blossom right in front of my camera. What a ham! Later i'll check the Passiflora vine for eggs.

Lots of Queen Monarchs eclosing today but i don't want to bother them with the camera.

Love those Sulphur caterpillars, Lep, beautiful photo!

Last day of February. Cool 46 degrees F. but sunny. A recently emerged small Clouded sulphur was basking on road edge vegetation. I'm always amazed at how butterflies are able to survive with adverse weather, loss of habitat, pesticides, and numerous predators.

"Oooooh so pretty!" For Dale when I opened the pic of the cloudless sulphur.

I did like the sulphurs I fostered a couple of years ago. I guess I'm growing senna again so maybe I'll have another batch of cats.

Does anyone have seed for the native, C. (or is it S.?) marilandica?

I'd be willing to trade if you can help. :)

Dale - did you plant out any of the FL paintbrush? I still have a handful of seeds. I've given enough away I guess. I'll try to keep them from the rabbits this year and see how it goes.

A.

I hear you shorthog...butterflies sort of have a reputation of being frivolous delicate little things but they have to be tough to survive. It is not easy being at the bottom of the food chain. I've seen butterflies emerge on a clear morning during the rainy season and then get hit by torrential rains. I can't watch. I think i am going to go out after this rain (which would have probably knocked me down) and find dead butterflies all over the place. But they survive...those sticky little feet help. It is amazing. Gardening for the butterflies (i.e. providing habitat lost) really helps. If you think about how many people do this around the world. We make a difference. :-D Love those sulphurs!

Thanks Vitrsna for the encouragement. It can get rather depressing when you see the continual onslaught of developement and progress. Thousands of acres are being bull dozed, cleared, and burned for highways, housing and industrial development around my own habitat plus weekly fogging of the neighborhood for mosquitoes by the City.
I usually have lots of flowers around for landscaping but this year I plan to convert to a butterfly garden with host plants and nectar sources.
I can't wait for Spring.

o bravo shorthog!!! The host plants are the most important then the nectar plants. Those butterflies need a place to put their eggs in order to survive and they are very particular. A passiflora vine takes care of many heliconia and fritillary butterflies. i am not sure about your area but my guess is that you should have at least 5 different species laying eggs on that vine. want some seeds? i have some fresh asclepias curassavica seeds. This plant is a host for the Monarchs and also a good nectar source for all the butterflies, bees, and hummers. I have Tithonia rotundifolia seeds for nectar. You could get a small common rue plant from a local nursery which will host some species of swallowtails. You get these things in the ground or a container of some sort and already you have a butterfly garden with all sorts of miraculous things happening there. remember butterfly gardening is not for sissies but the rewards are enormous!

I can send you some seeds. Dmail me with your address. The only problem is that it may take between a month or a month and a half for the seeds to arrive from Mexico so if you can find some seeds closer, you can get them quicker. I would be happy to send some though, just let me know. I think i have some fresh aristolochia seeds too. For the sulphurs you will need some sort of Senna. maybe you will get some seed offers from some folks closer. What about it southeasterners? i think you will want to help shorthog get some butterfly plants going, right? :-D

Two more Monarch caterpillars joined my brood today. Mom found them while picking some milkweed. All the bigger ones went into their chrysalids already. So I've got five chrysalids and three caterpillars total. It's supposed to get cold here this weekend so I'm glad they're inside where it's warm and cozy. I know caterpillars and butterflies are adaptable but I still feel sorry for them when the weather's bad.

Melanie

I am they can handle a lot more than we realize but I worry too.