I noticed these caterpillars all over my passion vine today so I had to get some pictures. There had to be at least fifteen of them.
Gulf Fritillary
I hope you have a big passion vine or soon you will have no leaves! I am waiting for mine to grow new leaves. I have also had a lot of GF cats this summer. Nice photo!
The vine is in the woods so I'm not worried about it. They can have it.
That's great news! Yes, I do hope that vine is a big one...those frits lay gobs of eggs and all those gobs of caterpillars will strip a vine quickly :o) They are such beautiful butterflies too!!!
My vine is totally stripped. I collected all the last instar caterpillars and put them into cages. All have since pupated and I've been releasing the eclosing butterflies daily. Released a bounty of six today :o)
...and seems every time I walk outside I see mating pairs! Am expecting some trades for p. incarnata vines this week...they will come in very handy when the gravid females start their egg-laying mission!
~ Cat
Cat my vines are just about completely stripped too now but I love my butterflies and that is the reason I plant them lol