I bought my first Calico Dutchman's Pipe about a month ago. I have never seen a Pipevine Swallowtail in my yard, but tonight when I was doing my daily egg and caterpillar check of the garden I found both eggs and 25 tiny caterpillars on the Pipevine.
Are these what I think they are?
eggs:
Here's a picture of the tiny cats. Sorry it's not clearer. I couldn't get too much of a closeup without it blurring.
I sure hope they are PSTs. I'm so excited! Last year was my first for Sulphurs, and I was hoping for something else new this year.
thanks,
Terrie
Well, judging by the host plant, the yellowish color, and the fact that they're laid in one large cluster, I'm going to say those are probably Polydamas Swallowtail eggs. Pipevine eggs tend to be more reddish-orange, laid a few at a time (and more in a line than a cluster), and I've heard the Pipevine ST doesn't tend to lay its eggs on the non-native, tropical species of pipevine. The Polydamas ST lives in the tropics and so it will use tropical pipevines as well. Although, I've had all my Polydamas cats die on a. gigantea even though others say that species is ok. Currently, I am feeding them a. tomentosa and they are thriving with an expected rate of mortality. I've read that Pipevine STs cannot use a. elegans as it seems to have adverse effects on them.
Melanie
Could I possibly have both kinds? I noticed on two or three of the vines themselves I have a line of eggs. About 6 or 7 all in a line. The eggs have hatched, so I figure that's where these cats came from. Do they not eat their shells like some of the other cats do?
I've brought them all into a cage and can't hardly wait until they get big enough to be able to see more clearly what kind of cats they are.
thanks,
Terrie
When I bought the pipevine plant there was one fairly large PST cat on it. You should have seen me driving home, the pipevine on the front floorboard of my car, convertible top down, and worrying to death the cat was going to blow off. I'm sure everyone was wondering why I wasn't speeding down the road. We made it home safe and sound, though
8*D
Terrie
Oh yes, I've totally seen both kinds of eggs on the same pipevine. They do eat their shells, but it seems more like they scoop out the insides and leave the remainder because I'll see the remnants of the shells. Even the ones I brought in and watched hatch only ate the insides of the eggs. Definitely keep us posted as they grow!
Melanie
Mel,
I just went to our local nursery and picked up another pipevine plant. Brought it home and found out I have two huge Polydamus cats on it, too.
8*D
How funny! I went to the nursery myself today and bought some pipevine with three medium Polydamas cats! I posted a picture of them in the Daily Butterflies thread.
Here's a picture of mine. Are they polydamas? I'm still having a hard time figuring out what's what.
Thanks,
Terrie
Yup, that's them. Check out their Bug Files entry: http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/788/
Great! I just looked at the bug file. Thanks for the info.
Terrie
Hi, Melanie,
Just checking in with a status on the Polydamas cats.
The two I brought home from the nursery have pupated.
The first 25 I brought in are eating and growing. Those eggs on the leaf.... they turned out to be the same kind of cat.
And today when I went out to bring in some more leaves and vine for them all to eat I found even more tiny cats. I now have 2 pupas and 38 little caterpillars in my cage.
I love it!
Terrie
I'm with ya - I just counted 37 cats. And I found another cluster of eggs this evening!
Ok...so the pipevine cats I have refuse to eat the pipevine they were layed on and the only other pipevine species I have is triloba. What can I get that these guys will eat? I've lost most of what hatched out and I think this is why. It is so odd though because so many sites list the calico pipevine as a host plant. Any ideas?
Thanks, Kim
Kim,
I hear ya. I've always heard the Polydamas are ok on the a. gigantea and I've killed every single one by feeding it to them. I'm now using the triloba along with a. tomentosa. The pipevine STs are very sensitive and generally only use native pipevine species.
Melanie
Did you guys see the article in the Florida Gardening magazine for June/July?
It's about the Polydamas butterfly and pipevine.
It's hard to figure out what kind of pipevine some of the nurseries around here sell. My first one was labeled Calico. The most recent just says pipevine. I asked the people at the nursery and they didn't know which kind it was. Go figure. Of course, there's no flowers on it yet to tell me anything.
I found 30 more eggs on my Calico pipevine tonight. The cats in the cage are doing fine, too.
Terrie
Well....I tried triloba but perhaps I tried too late. I must've had 15 or so eggs and I think all the cats are dead now. I don't see anything eating on the vine either so they must have died too. I will be looking for fimbriata now I guess. How disappointing.
Kim
I know how you feel. I tried using A. gigantea once a couple years back when I had a couple of cats and both died. My little cats seem to be doing okay now on A. fimbriata (which is not native, but the cats like it just fine). I'm just afraid I'll run out of foliage for them later. I KNOW how much these cats can eat once they are older...they remind me of Monarch cats in that sense! And I've never had this many cats on pipevine. Many of the pipevine cats I've raised were just a few now and again taken home from nurseries. This is the first time butterflies came and laid dozens of eggs on my vines.
Melanie,
Question for you...
I am going to be out of town for 5 days (actually in your neck of the woods), and I had about a dozen poly cats born over the weekend so I took them over to a friends house for her to raise for me. She has an entirely different kind of pipevine - Aristolochia Trilobata. Since I had the cats on my Calico pipevine, do you think the cats will have any problems switching over to the new leaves?
thanks,
terrie
BTW my first Poly was born yesterday. My other 20-some cats are huge and should be pupating any moment. I hope they do it before I leave for Tampa tomorrow afternoon. 8*)
I've never had a problem switching between species. They say it's easier to do when the cats are still in the first few instars so that should be fine. I just acquired more trilobata and I'm feeding Polys and Pipevine STs on it. I've switched Zebra STs, Zebra LWs, Gulf Frits and they all lived to tell the tale so I think your guys should do fine.
Melanie
It just got through my brain that the plant a. gigantea is the Pipevine that I bought last year!! So I have gone out and yanked that puppy out! I have a couple other good pipevine plants and will put them back in it's place. Maybe that will improve my chances of getting a PST this year.
I have to rip out my a. gigantea this weekend. It kills even the Polydamas. I think mine must have some kind of super toxicity. Fortunately, I now have lots of a. triloba and a little a. tomentosa that all the caterpillars seem to enjoy.
Melanie
I'm not yet convince that the gigantea is bad. Last year I had cats on mine that were an inch long. Something kept eating them till they were all gone except one that made it by hiding in a hibiscus bush right next to the vine. Maybe mine is not a gigantea, but it said that when I bought it, at the University sale over in Tampa.
I don't know. I'll check it out this year and see what is happening.
My a. gigantea bloomed the first year I had it, so I know it was the toxic one. The others I have are a. tomentosa and just babes, but I haven't seen PST in my yard yet. Which means nothing! I have only seen BST once, but I am raising or have raised about 43 cats now!
I bought mine at the USF sale as well! Maybe mine went bad, LOL! At the MOSI garden they feed gigantea to the Polys and they do fine. I think it must be my particular plant.
Well it is too late to wait and try the a. gigantea, it is history at my house. After three of you had problems (you, Linda, and Kim) I didn't want to keep it around. I didn't care one way or another about the bloom, I just got it for the butterflies. I know the a. tomentosa is a good one, so I will go with it.
Sheila, I'm gonna watch mine this year and see what happens. If it starts killing them, I'll rip mine up, too. : )
~Lucy
