Just before posting the previous post I was going through my yard checking to be sure the sprinkler system had done it's job. I stopped for a close look at my Plumbago, which has been a larva plant for "my" Miami Blue butterflies (I have seen two) To my surprise I saw a very tiny butterfly flying around the Plumbago. At that point I didn't know it was a butterfly (and still I am not sure) until it landed on a piece of training mesh I used to have my red passionflower climb up to the top of the wall. The butterfly was clearly visible and appeared to be opening and closing it's wings. Now get this, it was about 1/8". It's whole body was that big. It was a bluish color, more blue than grey. I got close enough with my finger to get it to fly again and it did. It took off in a zig zag pattern of flight not wandering more than about 8 feet away landing on a Chinese hibiscus leaf. Again I had a chance to observe it and again it appeared to be flexing it's wings. Then without prodding, it flew away. It sure looked like a butterfly to me, but it was soooo... small.
Anyone have an experience like this?
Art
A very tiny butterfly
Get out there with your camera! I'd love to see a tiny blue one, and even "your" Miami Blue butterflies. I don't have anything blue here.
Just a little larvae food tidbit...did you know that the red passionvine is tropical and the caterpillars from our Gulf Fritillary butterfly will die if they eat it? If you get cats on this vine, transfer them to a purple passionvine, or call Brad/Flyboy and he will come get them.
I don't have the camera yet, at least one I can get a picture of something that small. It will happen in April.
Here in S Florida, It's just the opposite of where you are. Here they eat the red passionflower and not the purple. I had these growing side by side on a fence by the pool. They would destroy the red passionflower and not touch the purple one. This is similar to the Monarchs who eat the yellow/orange milkweed but not the gold one which is only a couple of feet away. If I take a Monarch cat off the yellow/orange milkweed and put him on the gold, they crawl off it and won't touch it.
Art
I don't think the problem is with them not eating the red vine, but that eventually they die from eating it. I don't know at what instar but they didn't pupate. I can't speak from experience, but did hear this from people who did. I think they lived in CA and MS.
Do you ever raise any inside or in any sort of cage? Maybe you could keep track of them, take pics etc, and see if yours will pupate and eclose successfully? Even just a couple would be interesting to see. You could have a different red vine.
This is info from "another" site where I learned this. I was active in this forum when this information was put together and discussed.
Most red-flowered and a few blue flowered passifloras will not support the butterflies that use these vines in the United States. Many red-flowered tropical passionvines are on the market. Please do not use them - they are similar enough to our own passionvines that our female butterflies will lay eggs on them, but the caterpillars will soon die.
Gulf Fritillary
- Passionvine family, passifloraceae
1. Passiflora incarnata - maypop
2. Passiflora suberosa - corky stemmed passionvine
3. Passiflora lutea - yellow passionflower
4. Passiflora alto - 'Amethyst'/'Lavender Lady'/'Star of Mikan'
5. Passiflora caerulea - blue passionflower
Zebra Longwing
- Passionvine family, passifloraceae
1. Passiflora suberosa - corky stemmed passionvine
2. Passiflora biflora - two-flower passionvine
3. Passiflora lutea - yellow passionvine
Thanks for the info! This is a list of safe Passifloras, right? Does this mean that the tropicals should not be planted at all or, just not to the exclusion of those on the list?
John
Yes, that's a compiled list from many butterfly gardeners/raisers of passifloras that GF's are particular to. I don't know that the red should not be planted. It's just kind of one of those things where "once you know" that maybe another kind too would be good. It would be interesting if Art watched his to see if they lived.
Art says he has a problem with them chosing the red over the purple when they are together tho. Maybe putting them on the purple and putting a sleeve over them would contain them. I've heard people say they use the paint strainers sold at Home Depot for like $3 and they just put that around the plant and cats. I need to get me some of those.
Oh, thats what you were talking about! I'll look into that. Are the 'strainers' long and narrow?
I really don't know. I guess I kind of figured they looked like a small laundry bag, like for socks or something. We just got a new HD by me so I'll check them out too. Several people have used them so they apparently work.
Hi Folks! I plant most of my yard to attract and keep butterflies. Occasionally I buy a plant just for me or my wife and not the butterflies. The purple passionflower is for us. It's on a privacy fence that blocks our pool area from public view. The purple and red used to share that section of fence. Last fall I cut back and moved the red one specifically to get it away from the human traffic in that area. In it's new location it has climbed training mesh and currently going both north and south along a barb wire that runs along the top of the wall. The red I bought just for larva food for the GF's. I have had it over four years now and believe me, you would think you were in a butterfly exhibit if you saw the amount of GF's in my yard. The Zebra longwings use the snow on the mountain all year long for their cats.
I have 'Pura Vida' red and “Imperatrice Eugenie” purple passionflower. My snow-on-the-mountain is a native.
From early March to late December it's hard to look out into my back yard and not see butterflies. That's how many visit my yard. I do a lot to have them visit and keep them coming back by having what they want for themselves or their cats. Sometimes they come here just to lay eggs, for example many Orange-barred Sulphurs visit just to lay eggs in my Christmas or Butterfly cassias. They don't stop to eat here themselves because I don't have what they like. Sooner or later I will find what they like and they will be here more than they currently are. At least I get to see them a few times a week.
Art
Below is a link to a section of NSIS. This section is about The Gulf Fritillary what it eats and what it prefers to lay eggs on. Take a look.
Art
http://www.nsis.org/butterfly/butterfly-sp-long-gulf.html
They do love the nectar of red flowers. They usually love red Pentas that I have. They do only lay their eggs on passionvines. But it has been reported by other people who raised the cats on red passionvines that they did not live. I have many different types of butterflies in my yard also, but they didn't necessarily eclose in my yard. The majority come for the nectar, others for the host plants that I provide. I was asking if you had ever actually raised any, watched them pupate and eclose, then we would know that your red vine is different. I can understand your doubting my word, I'm just passing along information that came from very knowledgable and experienced people. I don't want to interrupt your enjoying your vines and butterflies, so I'll move on.
Small butterfly update... I am seeing more and more of these blue butterflies. I took pictures with a disposable camera over the weekend. Probably wind up with disposable pictures. At any rate, the very tiny butterfly I saw is getting bigger. I now believe it is a baby of the full sized (1/2 inch wing size) blue. I have seen several of the blues in what I call fighting mode, that is where they chase each other around for a while. I need to note here, these are among the fastest flying butterflies I have ever seen.
I have finally seen them feeding on several plants in the yard in addition to the Butterfly Needles (a weed) I saved for them this winter. I observed them feeding on the flowers of Scorpion-tail (native) and Blue/Violet Porterweed (native). I have also seen them resting on my grape tomato bushes. I let my grape tomatoe bushes grow as big as they want to. They often fall over and grow along the ground. They are in front of a transplanted night blooming jasmine. Between the tomatoes and the jasmine, there is plenty of shade and lots of branches for them to rest on. This area is just in front of a 6' concrete wall so there is no wind there. Whatever these butterflies turn out to be, I have a full blown colony of them.
Art
This message was edited Mar 28, 2005 9:07 PM
Thanks to a post by kennedyh from "An itsy bitsy flutterby" thread I was able to find more info and better pictures than I had previously seen on the Miami Blue. The link below takes you directly to the page that helped me in my quest to find out what this butterfly is. http://www.duke.edu/~jspippen/butterflies/floridablues.htm On this page my butterfly most closely resembles Cassius Blue (Leptotes cassius) @ Key Largo or the Miami Blue (Hemiargus thomasi) @ Bahia Honda State Park or the Nickerbean Blue (Hemiargus ammon) @ Big Pine Key. If you take the link you will notice all three closely resemble each other. In my fleeting glance at the butterflies in my yard I have not yet been able to see the colors of the "eyes" at the base of their wings. Mine have the eyes but I don't remember what colors they were. These are very small butterflies, slightly less than 1/2 inch wing. They fly so fast you can only see them clearly when they land. I only see the wings closed when they are perched laying an egg on the Plumbago, or perched feeding on the Porterweed (right next to the Plumbago). Actually I didn't think this was common, that is feeding on a plant next to the plant they lay eggs on. I probably get that from the way I planted this section of the yard. This weekend I have access to a digital camera and I should be able to get pictures.
Art
Small butterfly update.
This evening after dinner I took my usual walk around the yard. I spent a few minutes in front of my largest Plumbago hoping to get another look at my mystery small butterfly. After a few minutes the butterfly showed up. I was watching it for about ten minutes I finally got a good looks at it. It's definately a Cassius Blue, not a Miami Blue as I had thought (or hoped). I can tell this by the size of the "eyes" on the hindwing. One large blackish and a smaller blackish. I have looked at hundreds of pictures of this group of butterflies, Blues (Subfamily Polyommatinae) and the Cassius Blue is the only one with this "eye" grouping and color. Also, in the descriptions the Cassius Blue prefers Plumbago bud tips for laying eggs. This is what mine do too.
While watching I thought of going in for the camera, but didn't. Wouldn't you just know the butterfly hung around the Plumbago laying eggs for about 10 minutes. Often it was just a few inches from my face making just perfect poses on the tips of newly forming mini buds.
I have tried several times to get pictures of one of these Cassius Blues, with a digital camera I wasn't too familar with, a simple disposable camera, and finally my (borrowed) 35mm Pentax ME Super. So far nothing has worked but I still havent developed the latest roll, which I know has nothing good on it so far. The wind is dying down and we should have a couple of days with just a mild breeze. Perhaps I will get lucky. I have noted it before and will mention it again, these little blue guys fly extremely fast. They are some of the fastest butterflies I have observed in my yard to date.
Art
Pictures would be great but, keep recording your mental pictures and observations!
artcons, in my yard, I've seen the sulpher butterflies drinking nectar from three things - the lantana flowers, the red salvia (these are tube-shaped salvia - annuals and prolific spreaders), and surpsingly, impatiens. These are the larger plain yellow sulphers, not the dogfaced sulphers with black on them. I'll enclose a picture of one feeding on the impatiens, but they never open their wings for me, so a closed view is all I have...
Hmmm! I have Lantana's in multi colored native and native all yellow. I have red, blue, violet salvia, but they are new, only planted them three weeks ago. I don't do impatients because the have such a short lived cycle here and I can't waste the space for so short a period of time. I have dozens of other good nectar plants and none of them seem to attract sulpher's. Perhaps I miss them when they visit, although I do see them lay eggs here in the cassia's.
At any rate, back to the Cassia blues. I was able to get in 5 to 6 shots which I have a good chance of being good. The 35mm camera I borowed from my daughter seems to be kaput. The electronics aren't working so I gave it my best effort at guessing what exposure to use with a 125 second speed, which is the only option the camera would allow without the electronics. During the week I will try and find a used body that will take the lenses.
Boy, I have to hand it to all the "shooters" here with their great pictures of fauna and especially butterflies and hummers. I must have ten to fifteen hours in on these small butterflies, and I am still not sure I have a decent picture yet. I have one more picture on the roll to finish it. I am saving it for tomorrow when perhaps the wind will die down.
Once again, thanks to all you folks for sharing all those great pictures. I can't even imagine how many hours and the patience involved to get all those great shots.
Art
artcon, I am impressed by anyone who uses a regular camera to take insect pictures. Without my digital, I wouldn't likely take pictures very often. I generally take about 10 shots on my digital to get one really good one. Butterflies especially don't like to stay still. The only thing harder to get pictures of for me is spiders, especially ones in the web, because the camera has a hard time focusing on them.
And I'll see which lantana my sulfurs visit this year. Last year I had "dallas red", "new gold", and my "miss huff" which is the only one that is perennial here. And here the impatiens last long enough to make it worthwhile. They'll grow in "part-shade" too which is nice, since I have very little full-sun areas in my garden (and the lantana get that). I restrict the "annuals" to the outer edges (easier to replant when needed). The impatiens do reseed themselves though, so it's fun to see what colors the "babies" are. The hummingbirds like the impatiens too.
You are lucky to have Cassia blues. Our only "blue" butterfly here that isn't metallic (we do have red-spotted purples) is the little blue hairstreak. They are pretty, but they almost always alight with wings closed (which they rub together so their tails appear to be antennae). I've only sucessfully gotten one picture of the little fellas, and that one isn't even that good.
Laugh on the regular camera. I don't have much experience with the digital camera's I borrow from a good friend, partly because he can't remember where the instructions are. I want to buy one, but don't want to make a mistake and get one that won't serve my purposes so I keep borrowing his without the instructions. There are soooo many options to consider when trying to take a picture with his digital. I even tried a few simple shots of trees and bushes and these didn't come out very good. I guess with instructions and practice, well, who knows.
On the Cassia Blues, I have a colony of them. I just planted a new area over the weekend to give them their own space. In this area, I moved a bunch of Spanish Needles (a mini daisy like weed they love) and a couple of Plumbago's which they lay their eggs on. I also included three colors of Lantana, including a purple one which I made from a cutting. It was just about ready to go into the ground. This will be my first purple Lantana in the yard. I also planted several groupings of herbs, (several varities of parsley, dill & fennel) hoping this might help. I had been growing several Coontie I picked up as babies and put two of them in the area also. This area is on either side of my recently replanted night blooming jasmine, which I have seen them rest in often. Behind the jasmine is a five foot wall which blocks the wind. This might be why they probably like resting there.
I currently have an area of Spanish Needles I made over the winter to feed these little blue butterflies. While observing this area from time to time I see several other varieties of small butterflies that seem to feed on the Spanish Needles, but I have yet to see them land on another plant in the yard to lay their eggs. All these guys are very small and they don't stay around long enough to get much more than an idea of what they look like. If I didn't have the Plumbago where the Cassia Blue's lay their eggs, I wouldn't even know for sure what they look like. Having them lay eggs gives me a few seconds to observe them and slowly create a mental image of them. The other problem is with the butterflies so small the eggs and cat's must be real small too. I have not even seen a Cassia Blue egg yet, and I know where they are being laid.
In the next post I will attempt to upload a picture of one of these mystery small butterflies that I took a picture of using my "borrowed" digital camera.
Art
What is this butterfly/moth?
This was my second try using the borrowed digital camera. I was following one of these very small butterfly/moths when it went into the deep unmowed grass. I snuck up on it and took 4 pictures. This is the best of the four. Remember, you are looking at a very small insect in deep grass. To you It may not look like grass, but this is the kind of grass we generally have here in S. Florida. It's St. Augustine Floritam grass and it's very thick and lush.
Any help toward my identifying this butterfly/moth would be greatly appreciated.
Any suggestions toward my taking better pictures would also be appreciated...laugh!
Art
This message was edited Apr 26, 2005 8:50 AM
This message was edited Apr 26, 2005 8:52 AM
Hmmm! It seems I screwed up.
Another try. This is the picture you were supposed to see in the post above.
Art
