Well, for months I've seen the leaves on my yellow Four O'Clock plants chewed up. Never once have I seen anything on them that would be eating them. Today I was weeding around them and low and behold I noticed a leaf that had a cluster of eggs on it.
Does anyone know what the Four O'Clocks are a host plant for? It's got to be a butterfly or moth.
I been doing some net surfing about this. The only name that comes up is the Hawkmoth. But I have never seen the cat on any of my plants. It's an unusual cat, so I surely would've noticed it.
I am at a loss. Anyone have any ideas or know?
Here what I was able to find out.
http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-curation/projects/hostplants/list.dsml?searchPageURL=index.dsml&Familyqtype=starts+with&Family=&PFamilyqtype=starts+with&PFamily=&Genusqtype=starts+with&Genus=&PGenusqtype=starts+with&PGenus=Mirabilis&Speciesqtype=starts+with&Species=&PSpeciesqtype=starts+with&PSpecies=jalapa&Country=&sort=Family
White Lined Sphinx.
There are others too, but darn if I can fidn my links for them right now, but will keep looking.
starlight - Some of the moths that I goggled have yellow eggs. These are definitely white eggs in a cluster. I can't find info about the egg color for many of the moths. Thanks for trying to help me figure out what is eating my Four O'Clocks.
Hawkmoth I know as a pollinator for mirabilis plants.
Well, I was out today checking to see if any of the eggs turned into cats and as I was checking the plants out, I saw more eggs (only yellow ones instead) just about 8" away from the other white cluster of eggs. I believe the hawlmoth has yellow eggs and I do see them flying around my garden at night. They fly like a hummer probably flies. (Though I've never seen a hummer in real life. lol)
These yellow eggs are on my nasturtium leaf. I have the plants grouped together in pots right by the door of my screened porch.
This message was edited Dec 29, 2006 2:05 PM
This is how the grouping of Four O'Clocks and Nasturtiums look. Are Nasturtiums host plants for any moths or butterflies? I just planted these in pots next to my porch because I like the flowers and the scent of the Four O'Clocks and the leaves and flowers on the Nasturtiums.
Well, I was looking at more leaves and turned over another Nasturtium leaf and found a bunch more "white" eggs. So now I am thinking that the eggs on the Four O'Clocks might have been laid on the wrong plant when the moth or butterfly was in that area.
So now I guess my question is: Are Nasturtiums host plants for moth and/or butterflies?
Here's a photo of the white eggs on the back of a Nasturtium leaf.
Actually, something IS eating both plants. So my guess is two different kinds of moths probably. I don't know of any butterflies that eat those plants.
Any ideas? I will keep y'all posted as they emerge out of the eggs.
not a clue becky. Will have to wait until they hatch and then hopefully ID
I'm on the edge of my seat for this one LOL I hope you find out what it is!
try these Becky
This a study that list some species, but have no ide a what their eggs look like
http://www.springerlink.com/content/q112q04706056827/
Also found this.
Great Southern White
- Mustard family, brassicaceae
- Nasturtium family, tropaeolaceae
- Saltwort family, bataceae
How long before they hatch? Feel like an expectant Mother. LOL
starlight - Very interesting. You know what .... today I saw some white butterflies in my yard. Rarely if ever do I see them actually IN my yard. Hmmmm ...... do you supposed that one set of the eggs is from a Great Southern White butterfly? Possibly the white eggs?
The other has to be a hawkmoth or some other moth. Hawkmoths have yellow eggs.
I never would've guessed that either of those plants were host plants to butterflies or moths. Interesting! Surprises abound! Never a dull moment in the garden. lol
Well, I am wrong, The Great Southern Whites have yellow eggs.
I just read that the Cabbage Whites lay white eggs that turn yellow after a day. The Cabbage White cats are just plain looking and green so they would blend in with the leaves on the plants which might explain why I don't see them when inspecting the plants. And actually the white butterflies that I saw today look like the CW. So I will be checking tomorrow to see if the eggs have turned yellow. The eggs are yellow and they are narrow and pointed at the end. (Which describes the CW eggs to a T!) I honestly believe that is what the yellow eggs are on one of the Nasturtium leaves. Fascinating!
I am intrigued! Have been following your thread to find out what species those eggs belong to. Guess you're going to have to raise them and show us photos of the cats, chrysalids/cocoon and butterfly/moth/bug when the time is right.
I had some green caterpillars on my four o'clocks earlier this year. Never noticed eggs...but saw lots of silked up leaves where they made their nests. Lots of frass too. I had planned to raise a few caterpillars to see what they'd become but never made the time to collect them. Am assuming they were some type of moth...but alas, I'll never know for sure.
Here is one of the cats. Bright green with a tan head. You can see a little bit of the silk where I pulled the leaf open to photograph it. Perhaps a skipper of some kind but most likely a moth.
~ Cat
Cat -Do you get the White butterflies around your home? I am really thinking at least one set of these eggs belong to a butterfly and the other may be a moth. Now to detemine which one(s).
I went out to look today and I could NOT find the white eggs at all. Were they eaten? Were they washed away by the rain? What???? Grrr..... I should've picked the leaf off and put it in a container to observe. Drat!
But I found more yellow eggs laid on the Nasturtium just a leaf up from the other cluster of eggs. I think I might just pluck one of the leaves off and put in an observation container. I really want to know what they are.
Boy! If they are actually butterflies, then I just discovered another two host plants in my yard that I didn't know about. That would be awesome! :-) :-) :-)
I've got my fingers crossed that they are some species of Whites. I never get those butterflies in my yard, but I see them by the thousands in the Spring here.
The mystery continues .....
I've seen a Great Southern White or two...but only nectaring. Have never seen a Cabbage White this far south.
Eggs are pretty resilient. I've used a soft toothbrush to clean off milkweed leaves not realizing there were Queen eggs underneath them. They never came off :o)
I'll be watching this post to see what they turn out to be. I am curious!!!
Just hope you don't end up like me...babysitting every egg I find in my yard...and more often than not...it turns out I've raised more bugs than I'll admit too! :o)
Well, the yellow eggs hatched last night. The leaf I pulled off was all shriveled, so added a fresh Nasturtium leaf. All the little tiny cats moved over to it and have been eating it as you might be able to see in the photo. Of course at this stage, very hard to tell what they are ... moths or butterflies.
Oh, this thread is much more exciting that your ugly brown cat! ;) I have read that both of these plants are hosts for something, but since my brain can only retain so much material I just file away what is relative to my area. I do remember reading about the sphinx moths last year tho because I went out and looked around for cats on my 4 o'clocks. (none) Keep us posted!
oh cool beans Becky. can't wait until they are big enough for us to tell what they are
Speaking of reading something... Seems I have read that Nasturtium is a plant used to transfer moth larvae to...from a vegetable plant, ie, cabbage, tomaotes, etc..
My guess, (just a guess mind you), would be that it is a moth of some kind... Maybe those cool HB/Hawk kind we get here in late Summer... They are amazing.. If you want to watch them change in isolation, wait till they get 2-3" and put them one of those plastic reptile containers with about 2" of nice dirt.. with some Nasturtium cuttings stuck in there in case it's still hungry. They pupate under ground..
Deb - I am expecting the cats to be moths. It's just funny that some of the plants in my yard are host plants which I was not expecting. Kinda neat, actually. Of course, my yard will probably be invaded by moths at this rate. Sort of like the invasion of the Monarchs! LOL Only these Moths will probably not be nearly as beautiful as the Monarchs and other butterfly species!
Becky,
I do hope you are getting plenty of photos...then you can create a separate post to photo document the life cycle of whatever this is going to be :o)
If these buggers are going to be moths, will say not many of us get to see moth eggs. Either way, best get some good photos to share of the caterpillar instar stages too.
Am still watching this post. You had us feeling like expectant mothers, now we've seen baby's first steps, next we're wondering what dance school to send baby to :o)
~ Cat
Here's todays photos of the little mystery cats! They are actually kinda cute! They are also all over my Nasturtium plants outside. With this many, do you think I am going to run out of host leaves for them? It's got me wondering. And no one sells Nasturtiums around here. I grew mine from seed. Another dilemma possibly ....
Photo#1
Photo #2
Photo #3
They sure are growing fast. I'm not familiar with butterflies that lay clusters of eggs, except the Bordered Patches, so I hope they are something exciting!
Something interesting that I noticed about these cats. They stay together (it seems) and seem to have a lot of silk. They are not rolling the leaves, but I am wondering if they might be some kind of leaf-roller cats? They are in a cage, so I will keep posting photos so we can ALL see what they are turning out to be.
Becky...
They are starting to look very similar to this cat...but mine is more white than green...but it has the same brownish head, black dots and hairs. It seems like your cats have hairs...can't quite tell.
Am still waiting and watching your post :o)
Here's the moth cat...it turned out to be one of those tiny white moths that perch with their wings tightly held against their body. Little black stripes. Will post a photo of it but it's a blurry one. Never did get around to taking decent photos as I was disappointed in it being a moth :o)
~ Cat
...and here the moth my cat turned out to be...am curious to find out if yours will be the same or possibly from the same sub species.
~ Cat
Cat - It surely does look like your cat and my cats may be one and the same species. Do you have more photos of this cat as it grew? I also have the white moths all over the place, so that would not surprise me that this is a moth. Looks like I am going to have a lot of them around my yard soon! LOL
As bad as this may sound .....These moths are probably food for the frogs and bats! Every creature has it's purpose! :-)
Cat - I need to buy a magnifying glass to better see these tiny babies up close. Hard to tell if they have hair at this time. Maybe I'll be able to better tell when they grow a bit more.
G they are tiny ....guess that rules out HB moth, lol. Remarkably similar to Cat's though. (good you found this thread Cat.) Would be cool if they were the same..
Becky,
I never did get to see the eggs or early instars...that caterpillar photo was the last stage before it pupated. I thought I'd photographed the cocoon...but I can't find my photos of it.
Here's another close up of one of the white moth cats.
~ Cat
OOOPS! Posted the wrong photo :o) - see the next post
This message was edited Jan 7, 2007 2:39 PM
OOOPS! Posted the wrong photo :o)
Here it is.
~ Cat
He's definitely got "attitude"! LOL
Thanks for posting those, Cat! :-) We'll see how mine grow and change .....
I wear my sunglasses at night, so I can see, so I can see... oOO musical notes ....
Tude is right, LOL!
What a face on that one, a real gone cat!!!
I can't believe how many cats you have all on that one leaf. How much longer do ya think it wil be before it turns into a beautiful butterfly? Keeping my finger s crossed it something special for ya.
Thanks, Ella! They are only babies right now. Probably another week at least before they are at the last instar ad ready to go into a chrysalis. Yes, from the number of cats, it's not going to be long before they eat my Nasturtiums down to the stalks! LOL
Deb - LOL! I have that song on one of my cds and my daughter laughs that her mom likes that song! The song has attitude for sure! And so does that spikey haired cat! LOL
