Can anyone easily ID these little rascals or should I post these over on the BugID forum?
Butterfly & Cats IDs?
There were a ton of these in the same area . . .
and only a few of these there on different stalks - same plants
The butterfly is the Bordered Patch (Chlosyne lacinia) http://bugguide.net/node/view/28431
GD what are the cats feeding on??
Thanks Ken :)
Donna . . . I'm not sure the exact species . . . but I call them Sunflowers . . . I think it's pretty common, at least it is around here. Grows wild in my fields.
see what you can find on Haploa moth cat for the black cats Reversed Haploa look similar or also check Checkerspot Butterfly cats
You don't think these cats are the same as teh Bordered Patch Butterfly ?
You're right Donna . . . I checked the BugGuide site and the images of the Haploa moth cats do look a lot like the black ones.
Hmmmmm . . . maybe that's what they are? I was thinking since they were all basically the same colors and there was an adult Bordered Patch there maybe they were of the same species.
it gives you a place to start looking when you know what they are using for a host plant. I look up the host plant then check all cats for those host. I strongly reccommend the book. Caterpillars of Eastern North America by David L. Wagner it never leaves my desk
Ann ok . . . cool deal . . . thanks for the tips :) I need to grab a copy of that and the Dragonfly book I've been told about also :)
Meanwhile, I'll dig up the exact name of that plant. If I remember correctly, I had that one in an ID thread that was for a different plant, but someone ID'd that one for me also. I'll check and see what I can find.
GD, I'm thinking those are both Bordered Patch caterpillars. My book has both kinds of BP cats, one is black and the other has the orange markings with black also. I've only seen the black ones.
Look at this link. Doesn't that look like the one with the orange markings?
http://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/image/35833875
Ahh yeah . . . you may be right . . . that's what I was originally thinking, but I'm just learning about all the little details on all these mini frinds we have here :D
Thanks Linda
yes you are correct Linda. Audubon book on butterflies says they feed on sunflower and that the mature cats range from black to black & orange striped to orange. This is why we need several books. No one book has all the info we need. WTG Linda
Cool deal . . .thanks ya'll :)
I'll go ahead and add them to the BugFiles page for future reference :)
Caterpillars in the Field and Garden...it's a nice butterfly caterpillar book. Like Donna said, no book has all the info. Even this one has its limitations, but it's a lot of help. Now, if I just had a moth cat book. This one does have a very limited number of pics on moth cats.
Linda The Cats of Eastern North America has most of the moth cats. It is the most complete book I have found and why I reccommend it
Thanks, Donna. That book is definitely on my list. Too bad my A/C went out. We have to replace the whole system! Ouch!
GD, what's the dragonfly book you mentioned?
Heya Gram . . . not sure how much good it would be up north, but the one I mentioned is "Dragonflies and Damselflies of Texas..." by John C. Abbott, pub. by Princeton Univ. Press 2005.
I know we have many of the same ones here that ya'll do, but you may have some that are not in this book? Either way, it should be a good one to have around ;)
The guys on BugGuide seem to like it a lot. I'm plan'n to get a copy soon.
The host plant in your pictures is Verbesina encelioides, aka yellow-top or cow-pen daisy. While it is a composite, it is not a sunflower/Helianthus. However, Chlosyne cats will eat both Helianthus and Verbesina quite voraciously.
Kenya
Ahh yes . . . that's right . . . I remember now that you mention the Cow-Pen Daisy. How could I foget that? Silly me. Sorry for the misleading info and thanks for correcting me Kenya :)
Nice picture GD,
No shortage of butterfly kisses where you are, ha. Now when I see a Verbesina encelioides, I will look for these little munchers.
Thanks for the info everyone! Very good!!
Thanks Deb :)
That's for sure . . . well the butterfly part anyway . . . lol