CLOSED: common butterfly ID

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palmbob Acton, CA(Zone 8b) Aug 09, 2006

I know this is NOT a monarch... but it's similar and very common in southern California

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LindaTX8 NE Medina Co., TX(Zone 8a) Aug 09, 2006

That looks like a Gulf Fritillary...I bellieve California has those. Its host plants are passionflower vines.

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nifty413 Garland, TX(Zone 8a) Aug 09, 2006

You know, I really want to grow passionflower and I love to have Gulf Fritillaries flitting about the garden. However, I'm finding the butterflies always triumph over the vines. My third year to plant a Passiflora (and it was a huge 7 foot specimen), and it's now nothing but bare stems. Next time I think I'll put a cage of netting around the plant for at least its first growing season. Even then, I have this idea that the adult will just lay her eggs nearby and the larvae will still creep on in!

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ceejaytown The Woodlands, TX(Zone 9a) Aug 09, 2006

LOL Mine is bare too, Just a stick. But it will come back, no worries. BTW, the adult will lay eggs only on the passionflower vine, not nearby. I think the trick is to have a whole mess of passionflower vines.

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palmbob Acton, CA(Zone 8b) Aug 10, 2006

Do they like anything else? I can't believe these butterflies found my yard only a week after planting passionflower vines (though have to admit don't remember seeing them earlier). Yard right next to mine is loaded with tomatoes... they like those?

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nifty413 Garland, TX(Zone 8a) Aug 10, 2006

They are exclusive, and I mean nothing else other than passionflower vine foliage and young stems gets eaten as food! ...at least that's how it goes in my landscape! :-)

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ceejaytown The Woodlands, TX(Zone 9a) Aug 10, 2006

Absolutely. One plant only - the passion vine. They will die if placed on any other. The adult butterly "tastes" the vine with her feet when she lands, and knows it is the right plant for her babies.The Monarch and Queen lay only on milkweed, the Giant Swallowtail only on citrus....they are all quite specific in their choice.

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LindaTX8 NE Medina Co., TX(Zone 8a) Aug 10, 2006

Actually, the Giant Swallowtail is more flexible than the others you mentioned. They can use Hop Trees, Toothache Trees and Rue, in addition to the citrus. I have Hop Trees, a Texas Toothache Tree and Rue. It's just hard to find the first two for sale in nurseries.

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ceejaytown The Woodlands, TX(Zone 9a) Aug 10, 2006

Ah - so the Giant AND the Black go to Rue. I had not realized that. Oh, well. I can't seem to grow Rue anyway...

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