Linda...BP chrysalid cluster - did yours look like these?

The caterpillars seem to enjoy staying together...now several have formed chrysalids on one leaf. I've been taking out the leaves or cutting out the chrysalid sections and separating them from the caterpillars...wonder what they would look like if I actually left them in the cages!!!

These are the caterpillars that were on the sunflowers...which am pretty sure they are Bordered Patches...however...the chrysalids are various shades of white and brown.

Linda or anyone else who has raised Bordered Patch butterflies...are mine similar?

~ Cat

Never had BP..but I'm interrested in comparison between other gregarious cats and how close they stay all the way through to adult.

Cat - Cluster chrysalises ..... that's insane!!! Honestly! If there are predators around they will have a feast with that many together! Never seen cats do that before! But it sure makes it easy for you to find them all! lol Very cool to have that many! Be sure to take photos when they eclose so we can see the little darlings!

Yawnnnn...it's almost 2am...was making more cat cages...fixing to head to the ranch tomorrow early (if I ever get to sleep, that is!)...will be okay once I'm actually awake...ROLF! Anyway, am hoping to find chrysalids on the sunflowers along the road to the ranch...if they didn't wander away from the plants...so that's the reason for the new cages.

~ Cat

Cat, all I remember is small, most speckled, varied quite a bit. I found one pic:
http://www.mariposasmexicanas.com/images/Nymphalidae/Nymphalinae/Chlosyne_lacinia_adjutrix/18_Chlosyne_lacinia_adjutrix_chrysalis_Laguna_Atascosa_NWR_TX_USA_20-X-05.jpg

Linda,

Thanks for the confirmation :o) They are quite varied in color but most of the markings are the same.

~ Cat

I still haven't found any cats other than monarchs and they've disappeared. I'm jealous...going out to check my sunflowers.

P

I checked some of my sunflower-type of plants today. Something is eating them, but it's not BPs. The largest cats are still pretty small and looks pale green and fuzzy.

Definatly frass on the sunflowers out there, no sign of the cats that did it..Humm

So far there are 74 chrysalids. Still have about a dozen last instar cats that should pupate soon.

I cleaned out all the cages today and removed all the chrysalids that were attached to the cages - gently stuck the silk to toothpicks dipped in hot glue. If they were attached to leaves I just cut around them and glued the leaf to the styrofoam. :o)


~ Cat

Also have that gob from the cluster of eggs too...they are growing quickly!!! Here's part of them on one of the leaves. They are so easy to care for. I just lay the old leaf they are on over a new leave and by the next day they are all on the new leaf.

Good thing they stay together...because it's so easy to take out the leaf with all of them on there and clean out the frass then put them back into the cat house. :o)

~ Cat

Boy I hear ya Cat! See how they are gregarious all the way through.. Must be tons easier. The PVSTs separate and when I adopted these they were already.
Sweet thing to keep the family together until; they are all grown adults, LOL! Nice lesson that one teaches us! Each species has a story...from the maker, I believe.

Hope all you had a nice MDay!

That's neat Cat, putting them on the styrofoam...good idea! Wow, there's so many!

Yes...it's a large piece of styrofoam...works great for me...I can check on all of them at the same time and it fits into my large reptarium.

Had to share this face...this is the front part of the chrysalis :o)

~ Cat

Wow, a chrysalis board! Never would have thought of that. Very nice!

Cat - You are coming up with some pretty good ideas there girl! I like the styrofoam boards for the chrysalis. Are they able to grasp it when emerging?

Border Patch are similar to the Great Southern Whites in that they also stay together as a cat family. That's cool that BP do that too! Love it!!! I guess it's safer in numbers! ;-)

Love all the photos and how you are documenting it for us!!! Thanks for doing this Border Patch thread. Might come in useful for me in the future. (Though I don't know for sure if I get BP here.)

Gotta love that face!

The emerging butterflies are able to grab onto their empty chrysis and hang there to dry...they also are able to climb onto the styrofoam board quite easily. Must be those tiny claws/hairs on the bottom of their feet - the little gaps in the styro-board help too.

I've used stryo-boards before for the gazillion gulf fritillaries and queens that I get every year. I sometimes put small slabs into the black swallowtail cat cages - so they can climb onto it and pupate there. If they pupate on a side of the cage I leave them alone as they use that girdle method to silk themselves in place. Much easier for the butterflies who have just one place that silks down.

Am thinking one of these seasons I will gather a huge gob of last instar bordered patch cats and put them into a cage with only a dried twig tree and let them climb on that to pupate. Do ya'll remember seeing Robin's monarch tree? It was in one of the photo contests several years ago. It was sooooooooo cool!!! Reminded me so much of those dried twig trees you see decorated for Easter, Christmas and other holidays with tiny ornaments...only Robin's was full of lovely green chysalids. You could also see caterpillars forming a J and others still wandering around for the perfect pupating place. They there was a follow up photo of emerging butterfly on it. It was so beautiful!!!

~ Cat

You mean this picture Cat? I see what you mean, very impressive!!
http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/butterflybyrob_1152560685_613.jpg

Excellent Deb...that's the Butterfly Bonsai tree :o)

I tried looking for it earlier but had to leave for work. Glad you found it. Ain't that just sooooooooo purty!!! Did you see the one with some newly emerged butterflies on it too?

~ Cat



This message was edited May 14, 2007 6:10 PM

How cool! Deb - Thanks for posting that! I hadn't seen that photo before! So cool!!! And yes! I would love to see the photo of the tree with butterflies on it, Cat!

I thought about tying chrysalises to a small fake table-top Christmas tree this year. I thought they would make cute ornaments! LOL! Didn't know anyone had beat me to that idea! Too cute!!! :-)

Yeah here's the pic with all the butterflies eclosing on it>

http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/butterflybyrob_1152589995_972.jpg

Here is the whole thread>

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/624364/

That is just too cool!

I love it! Great link and awesome idea with the Monarchs! Way coooool!

I'm off today to work in the garden! Whoo Hoo!!! Maybe I'll finally get the final two beds done! :-)

Oooh...I was so busy this morning. I went to check on the Border Patch chrysalids and saw that several were just about ready to eclose. You can see in this photo the air pockets have already formed.

~ Cat

This cluster as well as several other BP chrysalids on my chrysalis board started eclosing within minutes of each other! I moved several out to the duranta bush were they could pump up their wings in the warm sunlight. I had to go to work so figured it was best to move all that emerged instead of leaving them in the cage until I'd get home at 9pm.

Right before I left work I went to check on them and they were all nicely perched on the duranta but as soon as I approached several flew away to other branches. It was so nice to see a bunch of little butterflies flitting around my yard!!!

~ Cat

Awesome Cat! What a picture! I see one nectaring there... Now they are off to points unknown but it was such a cool moment to share with us! Glad my Duranta is already blooming more will release here any day now. Ben & I did release 100 lady bugs again tonight, that was pretty cool. Nothing like those pretty Border patches!!

:-)