Gulf Frit using this as a larval host - what is it?

Spotted a Gulf Frit flitting around this vine and lay a few eggs. Couldn't get a good photo as it was on the other side of the fence and partially hidden by a tree. Didn't want to jump the fence either as there is lots of tall grass and native brush and well, rattlesnakes are never in short supply. No sense pushing my luck on foot.

Am assuming it is some type of three lobed leaf passion flower but I don't recognize it. I didn't find anything in my native plant books either. Haven't tried the net yet. Please disregard the colima (native prickly lime ash also in the photo).

We do have p. foetida growing along one of the fence lines that they use too. Didn't see any blooms on this one but will keep checking when I drive out to the ranch.

This is located in San Isidro, TX (Starr County) was down in the south tip of Texas - zone 9b.

Any ideas?

~ Cat

...ps...dratted computer froze up...didn't see my post and posted twice...DUH!!!



This message was edited Jul 29, 2007 11:24 PM

I have no idea what that plant is! The one next to it looks like a Cassia. Possibly some wild vine that GF use as a host. Perhaps a wild version of Passiflora?

The one that looks like cassia leaves is prickly lime ash, a very abundant native bush...but owie it has some wicked cat claw like thorns!!!

I contacted a ento friend who is knowledgeable of our native plants - he said the passion vine is tenuiloba or something like that...haven't had time to research it. A larval host for longwings, mainly GF...but perhaps Julias and Zebras.

~ Cat

Wow Cat, that looks cool. I found a little bit more about it. here is a link or 2

http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/mbierner/bio406D/images/pics/pas/passiflora_tenuiloba.htm

and a picture

http://www.hewo.nl/passiflora%20species/tenuiloba.JPG

Thanks ya'll!!! Maydreams...that looks like it indeed. I haven't seen blooms but now know what to look for.

Many thanks again :o)

~ Cat

That kind of passionflower vine is usually pretty small up here in the Hill Country. It's unusual to spot any flowers on one. I've never seen cats on that kind...but I guess if it grew big enough it would be more likely to attract the mama butterflies.

Thanks Linda,

I'll keep an eye on it when I get out to the ranch. Seems like it's at least 6 feet tall as it has latched onto a nearby colima and mesquite tree...probably gave it something to pull itself up with. Will try to venture across the fence (with my snake guardz on) and see if I spot any eggs or cats.

~ Cat

nice find Cat. Congrats!!!!!

I have a P. affinis vine that seldom produces any flowers, probably because of the crappy soil it's growing in...not to mention the cat activity. So I noticed today it's trying to produce flower buds. Sure enough...there was a little bitty cat munching away on one of the little flower buds. So I'm moving a few cats off that vine so it can bloom. I've had P. lutea vines blooming in mid-summer...unusual here for it to bloom in summer. But then, too...not our usual hot, dry summer. Things are starting to dry out and heat up now. We'll just see how it goes...whether we actually have a month of real summer. The skeeters are so bad I'm afraid what disease I might pick up. 24/7, skeeters everywhere and they love my blood more than anyone else's, it seems!

Heard that Linda! I have a room beteeen the house and back yard, thats where I keep the spray..lol! .

When I first saw this thread, Cat.. I was really tired, and I was still compelled to look it up. These things get me started easily. I'm glad I waited bc Maydreams came through!! Way to go May!

Very cool to find that growing wild, but I know how diverse the ranch is. it figures..

:-D

Sometimes much too diverse :o) Ya'll talk about mosquitoes and there are skeeters there too...and there are bigger meaner biting flying things. Am thinking some type of fly??? Big bugger...the size of a fly but a tad longer in the body. And oooowieeeeeeeeeeeee they can sure zap ya! I got bit by one and around my shoulder blade area...and now it's sore and has a bruise?! Then I got to thinking about all those Discovery channel shows of those flies that bite peope and animals and lays an egg?! Then a week or so later a worm hatches?!!! Some guy had gone to some third world country to do research and got zapped by a fly. He actually left the larva alone and named it Bob or something like that. After a few weeks it got uncomfortable and he had to have it surgically removed...then the person photographing the operation wasn't ready and they had to put it back in and pull it back out again!!! EEEEEK!!!

Then I got to remembering how the cattle used to have these bumps under their hides and Dad telling us they from flies that bit them and laid an egg and that a worm was growing under the skin...and kids being kids...we used to press a glass coca cola bottle around the bump and smack the back of the bottle...of course the pressure from smacking the bottle down forced the lip of the bottle to squeeze whatever was inside that bump out...and yes, we'd get a kick of having a big fat larva pop out into the bottle!!! ROLF!!!

What can I say, growing up in the country way back when there were only two television channels left us lots of time to play outside.

and yes, I keep checking my shoulder...ROLF!!!

~ Cat

This message was edited Aug 1, 2007 7:36 PM

Ewww! If one of those biting flies left me with a worm, what I'd call it definitely wouldn't be allowed on this forum! Hope your shoulder turns out okay. Was that screwworms you remember messing with as a child? They found a way to prevent those things, from what I remember from a college course.

Cat - Now that is gross! I hope it was not the same kind of fly that bit you. I have never gotten stung by a bee. They bump me all the time in the garden, but I had this darn horsefly bite me .... not once but twice. And dang did it hurt. I had a nice couple of bumps that hurt like heck for several days. I hope you are okay.

You are grossing me out with the Discovery channel show and the coke bottle on the cows hide. Eewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

ROLF!!! Perhaps it was some type of horsefly. Either way it was a painful vicious bite from a big pest! Will try to remember to get a photo next time I'm out at the ranch.

Linda, is wasn't screwworms. The worms from the hide of the cattle were big fat michellin man looking buggers...I'd say at the very least half the size of last instar GST caterpillar!

I remember all too well having to medicate the cattle and keep checks on any open wounds or newly born calves when we were under a screw worm fly infestation. Used to have to put them into a test tube and ship off to Moore Base (about 30 miles from us) where they did the testing on those worms. Then as usual Mom would end up making a side dish of rice for dinner! ROLF!

~ Cat

Ok ok ..I'm glad I haven't had breakfast yet, might near 'ave lost it! LOL. Then Cat had to mention the rice... mercy!

:-b~

LOL! I guess ranchers are tough as nails when it comes to raising cattle and other livestock. Stomachs of iron! My dad and sister were always into horses. My sis had horses growing up and still does. I never even bothered to be around them at all unless it was to go watch her ride in a competition. I remember the stories my dad and sister would tell about the "bugs" in the stables. Ick! Major gross out! Nah .... I am not a rancher type ..... more of a farmer gal. :-) Must be in the blood because my dad's side of the family were farmers. lol

Back when I was trying to grow up :-) in the '40's and tending to our small herd, we had a lot of those larvae on the cows. For some reason I remember we called them "wolves". I have popped a bunch of those Michelins (sp?).

Rod