About two weeks ago we found a large group of caterpillars in the
Cowpen Daisy, Verbesina encelioides, so we took them in and raised them. Here is what they looked like.
What a great find!!!!
A very close up shot, interesting isn't it?
Here is a close up of the chrysalis top very close up.
And one of the bottom, these were only about 1/3 of an inch long.
The butterfly underside, a beautiful Bordered Patch.
And the top, so lovely and lively too, we had about 20 of them but were not able to get a group picture, the would not be still. I feel very lucky and blessed.
Josephine.
How wonderful!
Thanks for sharing... they're cute cats as well as being beautiful flutterbyes!
What a great find Josephine! They're beautiful.....from cat to adult!
Thank you, I had seen these before on the sunflower leaves, but they were tiny and I thought to wait till they got a little bigger before taking them in, but every time they were gone when i got back to take them, I suspect birds had a lot to do with it, so this time i took them right away, and it worked. They are not kidding when they say most of them never make it to adulthood.
Josephine.
I have a question for you more experienced butterfly people.
I went to post these pictures in the bug files and I noticed that there are two kinds of Bordered Patch; Chlosyne lacinia adjutrix and Chlosyne lacinia, so I don't know where mine belong, although I have posted there before, I did not notice it.
Can someone tell me what the difference is and where mine belongs?
Thank you very much.
Josephine.
That is truly a blessing Josephine. Lovely cats, lovely chrysalid and beautiful BF. What a thrill for you. Congratulations and great job.
Leslie
Josephine, I found this:
http://users.commspeed.net/stanlep/Chlosynelacinians.html
It looks like there might be 4 varieties and the C. lacinia adjutix is also called Scudder's Patch, weird huh?
You could contact Dave's staff and see what they say, if no-one else knows.
Congrats Josephine!!!
I'd only get a handful of BPs in my yard eventhough I have a couple of sunflowers growing in my yard. So I clipped a leaf from the ranch earlier this year that had a cluster of about 100 eggs on it and brought them home to raise. Whoa!!! I had BP cats coming out of my ears :o) They all pretty much pupated at the same time and eclosed within minutes of each other too. That was one busy morning for me!!!
Since I released all those butterflies a few months ago I continue to get BP visitors :o) Some fresh ones and other well worn...so am assuming they are using a nearby larval host.
I love the way the chrysalids vary in color and design :o) Here's a photo of a few that pupated on the same leaf.
~ Cat
Thank you Fly- Girl, it does seem confusing, I may ask them and see what the differences are, and if they know, it does seem that my butterflies are brighter color than the ones on your link. We shall see.
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Cat, those are really cute, and i can see a lot of variation on the chrysalids in your picture.
Mine were all pretty similar, do you think I have Chlosyne lacinia adjutrix ?
or Chlosyne lacinia, I do want to post them on the place.
In any event, they are all beautiful, and I just love them, if the babies were bigger they would beat the swallow tails at a beauty contest.
Josephine.
oh Frost how wonderful
Cute chrysalids Cat. Those all on the same leaf is amazing to me. You did have a busy time of it didn't you? Well I know it was worth it. And now some have already come back to visit. How cute is that?
Leslie
Josephine!
Wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing those pictures! The chrysalis' are so cool!
Adrienne
Thank you Everyone, I feel very lucky to have had this opportunity to share.
Josephine.