Discouraging find .....

I was looking around my garden beds this morning and saw some chewed up leaves on my Cassia (bushes, NOT the Privet Cassia tree. Not absolutely sure what variety of Cassia they are.)

I saw chewed leaves and was all excited! Here we go ..... more Sulphur cats! Well after careful inspection I found two at different instar stages .... both dead. :-( I have no idea what killed them. Here is a photo of one. It's arched back and died in that position.

I do not spray my plants with insecticide. I do water them though, but that shouldn't have affected them. And I usually water the bottom of the plant not the leaves.

I do see some ants crawling around on the bush. But I don't know if they are to blame. I am clueless and bummed about this discovery. :-/

I did manage to find 4 eggs, so I picked off the leaves and put into one of my container cages. Hopefully, they will survive and thrive. Time will tell.

Just goes to show that the odds are really AGAINST the caterpillars. I think there might have been even more than just the 2 I found dead, because other leaves were eaten all around this plant, but no sign of any live cats. Who knows what caused their death??? Such a bummer!

Here's the four eggs I also found on the same plant.

It kinda looks like a skipper cat from this angle Becky, but let's wait in suspense to find out for sure exactly what ya have. Single eggs are a good sign, I do know that much.


:-Deb

Deb - I am almost positive that they are Sulphur Butterfly eggs. I have recently seen Sulphurs in my yard ..... just not laying anything on the Cassia. I also know that when the cats die they turn a darker color. (Decomposing cats?) I just wish I found them sooner in case it was a predator that stung them. Will we ever know all the dangers and predators out there looking for our little cats? Probably not.

Cool! I'll buy Sulphur Cats and a vowel.. Hope the ones you have make it alright!


:-S

Well, I've seen more parasitoids this year than usual, some killed the cats before they started pupating. But the insect or whatever would come out after the cat died...there would be a hole or something in the cat's body if it was that. Hope whatever it was doesn't occur any more.

Aw bummer on the keeled over cats. By the death throws look it appears it was stung by a wasp or skewered by an assassin bug. Is that cat guts leaking out? Check your plants for predators - sometimes they will impale a caterpillar but drop it or back off when something scares them.

Am thinking if it was something bad it ate the caterpillar would be curled up instead of arched?

Good thing you collected those eggs. :o)

~ Cat

Cat - I have seen cats that had a virus or were poisoned by pesticides do the same thing. It must do something awful to their insides, because they are flipping over and wretching in pain. So very sad.

BUT .... there is good news at this thread:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/735953/

Poor things...I just hate to see that. I have Assassin bugs all over my garden. I hate to kill them but when they are on the mw....it's curtains for them. They hide too when they see me.....the nymphs can't fly, so they zip under the leaf.

Becky- I'm so sorry! I hate it when that happens! Probably waspies! On the up side...I've had great success with Sulphers! The eggs hatch out really well for me. I place a small branch in a vase (top covered w/ alum foil ) and they're happy as can be. Give it a go and let me know! (Hey...a rhyme...Ugh! is Summer done yet? :)


Adrienne

I have several Sulphur cats that I was able to recover on my Cassia bushes that are doing well in one of my cages. See this link that I started a few days ago (also listed above):

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/735953/

Thanks, Rox and Adrienne! :-)