A west coast Zebra???

Look what I found in the greenhouse.
Mark

that is the most beautiful creature! Wonder if the ever visit texas

Wow, what a great photo and a beautiful subject. I have never seen one of those before.

Thanks

Yup, they do visit Texas, but I haven't seen a single one this year, probably because of the freak snow last year. Their caterpillars are white & black, as opposed to the usual orange & black of the other Passiflora eaters lol.

This pic is from last summer. I had some that were great (super closeups), but I lost them in the great crash of last December:-(

my my how beautiful

Wow, beautiful!

Erick

I have them every year here. They love the p. incense. Have had cats in the past but didn't notice any this year but they may have been out of sight.
Jan...

It is always a delight to see the zebra heliconian. I saw two last month. One was nectaring on lantana horrida and the other on duranta. I planted several passion flower vines in the hopes of luring them to my yard...but alas, so far only the gulf fritillaries frequent them. The females must have laid a gazillion eggs! It was unreal! The frit cats stripped every vine. The vines have since put out new leaves but the frits are back and laying eggs again. Ayeeeeeeeee!!! :o)

Oh well, that's why I planted them...as larval hosts for the frits, julias and heliconians.

~ Cat (south tip of Texas)

Man those are so cool! I can't believe they don't make it to my yard here in Kansas. I always have several diffrent Passiflora's all over the place, you'd think they'd be around. I wonder if they're coastal critters, Hmmm. Nice pics
Thanks, JD

I couldn't believe I had one here period. In some book, it shows that one (yes, only one) was seen out in the desert somewhere within a couple hundred miles of here. My girlfriend thinks she saw it again the other day, flying around the yard.
Mark

Lucky!! I have not seen any. I will be on the lookout though.

Wow, I'd love to have some of those sucking nectar from my butterfly plants. Just beautiful.

As far as I know, the Zebras don't go beyond the southern to mid areas of the southern states... any butterfly experts around that can tell us for sure?

it's funny but I sit out there watching everyday now, but no luck yet, just that one.
Mark

Mark, You are so lucky to be able to observe any kind of insect/butterfly activity. I'm so envious this time of year, every plant left standing has freeze damaged leaves dangling like ragged cloth or something. Mere skeletons now and it's so sad. The red castor bean stalks are still standing 15 feet up with green, wilty of leaf like substance. You'd think we'd be used to this kind of weather in our zone but it's always a bummer year after year. My crazy wife is already driving me nuts with talk of plant relocations for next Spring! LOL
One thing I've noticed that I find very very odd is the 3 Passiflora Constance Elliot's I left in the ground show absolutely no signs of frost/freeze damage at all! All my other passiflora's outside have wilted to the ground but these C. Elliot's are still growing and we've had atleast 10 nights of weather below 32F and 3 nights that were 25F. I actually saw ice crystals from frost on the leaf surface one morning and today they still look great. I'm at a total loss to explain this freak of nature. You'd think Incarnata or another more hardy would be acting like this, even the regular P. Caerulea's are gone. I'm going to mulch them heavily to see if the roots are as hardy as the foliage. It would be a heck of a treat to find 1 more passi that can survive our winters;)
I'm sorry my whining rant has kinda hijacked your thread a little. If it bothers anyone, please let me know and I'll edit this post out. I was just so shocked then jealous picturing you sitting in the sun watching butterflies flyingt all over.
Thanks, JD

lol JD. No worries. I still have a few gulf fritilaries (spelling), but was just so shocked to see the Zebra, and it wasn't even during the warm season. I wish it would show up again, but I guess it was just a one time shot.
Mark