This pretty butterfly visited the yard today and I decided to get a picture or two. Does anyone have the name/classification for this beauty. First time that I can remember seeing it in West Texas.
Butterfly classification
Another picture.................
Looks like a buckeye. Isn't it wonderful finding butterflies in the garden?
Can anyone tell me the name of the butterfly that lays her eggs on citrus plants? The larve is one of the strangest looking fellows that I have ever seen. Sorry I do not have a picture. I think the mom was black with yellow markings.
Patsy
Thanks, maggiemoo. I followed up with a google search on the Buckeye name you gave and found that to be the correct "handle" for this butterfly.
Txwillie, wish I'd thought of including a link for you, glad you were able to ID it.
Patsy, could yours be the Orange Dog swallowtail? The cat is sometimes described as looking like a bird dropping, lol. http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=2107051
Here's the mom: http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=2107042
My book says that it feeds on citrus, so maybe this is it.
Patsy, the "Orange Dog" is more commonly called the Giant Swallowtail, FYI. It also uses Hop Trees, Toothache Trees and even garden Rue as host plants. Both species are so pretty!
Maggie can't say that I have seen the cat but I have seen the butterfly- several lately and been wondering what they were- clearly didn't wonder too much or I'd have looked but thanks for posting!
Thanks so much. I have 25 or so of these little "bird droppings" in a container with citrus leaves. Great to know they also feed on other things as well. I am going to put some on a lime tree and others on rue and toothache tree. Will be interesting to see how they do. Guess I will keep some in the container just in case. You guys are the greatest for the information. This has really been a wonderful year for butterflies. I have hundreds flying around in my garden. I thought the blue mist plant was the best to have for them but I have found this year that they are just as fond of scabosia. I have some that I grew from seed that I thought were annuals. They survived last winter and are now almost 3 feet tall and covered with blooms which in turn are covered with butterflies. So very beautiful.
Patsy
Well I have a large Cassia Allota (sp) and that is host for cloudless sulpher- I have tons of them flittering in my yard. Have also seen many more monarchs than I have seen in a while and those swallowtails- which I don't recall seeing in previous years.
They are wonderful to watch.
aprilwillis have you found any of the sulpher larve on your Cassia? They are so neat. Exactly the color of the bloom except when very small they have small grey dots that turn into bands as they grow larger. They only eat the blooms. I was fasinated the first year I had them. I did not know that any larve only ate blooms and did not bother the leaves. Isn't nature wonderful????
Patsy
Patsy
I have only seen them when they get large and have the bands. They are pretty cool.
The Buckeye's are one of my favorites. Not very big but beautiful eyespots!
Patsy, your cats might not switch from eating other plants unless they are very small. It's usually hard to get them to switch once they really start eating, but that's not to say they absolutely won't. You might just keep an eye on them. I'm interested in what happens so keep us updated.
I have so many Black Swallowtail cats on my dill and it's almost gone. I had some first instar cats on the dill and I was able to get them to switch to Rue. I'm going to have to buy more of all of it soon!
I love the Sulphur's but the 2 years I had my Cassia's I never got any cats. Do either of you have a pic of your plant so I can see if I had the same kind? I don't have one this year. That needs to go on my list with more rue and fennel. :)
I have three "caterpillar cafes" placed around my back yard, each container has parsley, rue and fennel. I was so excited to find these black swallowtail cats in each one of them, but wonder where they've gone. I've looked all around each of the pots to see if I can find a chrysalis, but nothing. I hope nothing got them. I had five cats on one plant at one time!
maggiemoo: The good news is that I've had them find hiding places to pupate into adulthood. The bad news is that I've also had them disappear (presumably due to some predator -- which I think are birds).
Great pic Mary!! You can even see the aphids! I love my BST's but I'm really tired of keeping them inside. I've done of for about 3 years now and I keep saying I'm going to just leave them outside, but I don't.
The last of my 18 finally just made their chrysalis but then I had to rescue 3 from a friend's dill while they were out of town. I have been teaching her son how to attract them and raise the cats so I'll give them back to him as a chrysalis soon.
You should see the color of these cats! They are all black/white/orange, no green! I'll try and get a pic. I tried last night but couldn't find my camera. When I went to bed at 1:30am I was falling asleep and all my thoughts were just flying thru my head and I saw where I put my camera! It was outside so I had to get up and go get it.
And every time I went to cut more dill there were more cats on it so I've got about 10 small ones inside eating rue and dill now. Poop, eat, poop, eat, poop, eat...
Maybe I should try a cafe too. I could put a big net over it to keep the other critters off of it, or just not bother.
Buckeyes are lovely. I had 4 cats in my garden. One disappeared - hoping it is unharmed somewhere... Three I watched like a hawk...Took pictures..About a week + ago I found 3 chrysallis next to the plant they were eating...or should I say next to what was left of it...They were nicely hanging off the leaves of sweet potato vine (the purple one) that is growing thru the plant they liked (can't say what it is - need to look up the name). But there they were...I was concerned they wouldn't make as ants are taking over my garden... so I cut the leaves they were on and placed into plastic container. Took them outside every day so they get some sun. And what do you know - today I came home for lunch and found one beautiful adult spreading it's wings inside the container!! I took the container outside so buckeye can get some sun. And was kind of hoping he'll stick around - but the moment I open the lid - he jets... I could only snap one shot and that was it!! But I have 2 more coming up - maybe I'll have another chance for a picture. I don't see them coming into my garden as I work all day and I am in the garden most of the weekend, so I either miss them or they see me there working and fly away.. But nonetheless, one of them managed to lay eggs on the container plant that is standing right by my front door! Go figure....
Here is the cat...
And the chrysalis...
Lenka, thanks for posting a picture of the Buckeye cat and chrysalis. Will help me recognize them if we are lucky enough to have any in our garden space here in West Texas.
He's just beautiful!! So fresh and bright! But you don't know what plant they were eating? That was my first question to ask. I have Snapdragons and Frogfruit but have never seen any cats. Maybe they are too small? Are they tiny?
Guess what...He came back to spend the night..on the outside of my kitchen/breakfast window...LOL.. Seriously - he stayed there all night and left in the morning and is fluttering around my yard right now. I came home for lunch and I see he is not leaving! He spent some time examining my lab's "outside bathroom area" - he seemed to be very attracted to the stuff he found that I did not get a chance to pick up yesterday...he-hee..
And I was also excited to find the second buckeye in my "nursery". Took the container outside for a few hours - will try to get more pictures this time!!
Trying to get the name of that plant for you. One cat I found on a plant from snapdragon family and 3 on this other "mistery" plant. . I'll get the names in a bit (going to look for a tag from the pot in my garage).
Here is a list I found on the internet of plants buckeye cats eat:
- Snapdragon family, scrophulariaceae
- Plantain family, plantaginaceae
- Vervain family, verbenaceae
1. Agalinis fasciculata - wild foxglove
2. Dyschoriste spp. - twinflower
3. Ruellia caroliniana - wild petunia
4. Ruellia succulenta - thickleaf wild petunia
5. Verbena hastata - blue vervain
6. Orthocarpus spp. - owl's clover
7. Plantago - plantain
8. Mimulus - monkey flower
Finally found the labels. The plant that hosted 3 cats is called: Sun Chimes TM Lavender diascia x hybrida, I had pink and red. Grows in partial shade and I had it topped off with purple potato vine - how did they find it still puzzles me as you can barely see it there. They ate diascia but I found crysalis on the bottom of potato vine leaves. And another plant that hosted 1 cat (but I can't find her) - Angelonia "serena series" grows in full sun.
Hope this helps and good luck!!
(attaching my new baby who areed to sit on my hand for a few minutes before leaving...ahhh..)
Hope this info is helpful.
