I was going to see if the GF and VF cats on my passionvine would continue to progress without my intervention, and they'd been doing great til this afternoon, when I noticed the remains of a cat on a leaf. This is my first passionvine and my first attempt to host the frits, last year I concentrated on BST's. Now I'm wondering if the birds and wasps are as much a threat to the frits as to the BST's? If so, I will definitely start bringing in the cats to raise.
Gulf Fritillary/Variegated Fritillay cat predators?
I would say yes to the wasps, but I thought birds would be warned by the coloring. I've also lost several Gulf Frits to what I think was some kind of disease. At MOSI, we don't raise Gulf Frits because they tend to do better on their own. They pass diseases and viruses pretty easily in captivity. Plus, it's easier for us to catch the butterflies outside and put them in the flight cage.
I just thought of something - is it possible the bigger cats might have eaten a smaller one? That can also be a problem with that species.
Oh no, I didn't know that they might cannibalize each other. We DO have an awful lot of wasps around, they're all over my dill, so I fear for the BST's, if they ever show up. Thanks Mel!
You're most welcome!
I tried to take a couple of photos of what I'm seeing on my maypop leaves. There are three cats in their later instar stages, and either in back or in front of them, I see a little black bit. Do they shed any "skin" at this later stage, could that be what it is? Or might it have been a younger cat they'd eaten? I can't make up my mind which it might be.
...another one...
.....one more. What do you think?
Thea....That definately appears to be the shed skin of the last instar. They plant their bottoms and attach them to a leaf or stem then when it is time, crawl out of the old sporting a brand new one. Sometimes they will eat the old skin if food is in short supply.
Yup, definitely looks like your guys are shedding. Here's a picture from last year when mine were shedding. Does that look familiar?
Oh, I'm so relieved, so maybe they're not cannibalizing each other!!! Thanks Sheila, and Mellie too; yes, that's exactly like what my guys are doing Mellie. And they're growing fast!! I can't wait to see them pupate (where are they likely to pupate, would they use the trellis, or maybe the deck rail?).
They are subject to travel 15 or 20 foot away, no telling. They will look like a dried up leaf when they are in Chrysalis form. Here is a good step by step to see what you need to look for. http://www.sasionline.org/fritillary/fritillary2.html
Those chrysalises show up in the strangest places. On my tools (so I can't use them for a time), on water faucets, on the barbeque grill, on the lumber we stacked for a project we had planned, etc. You just never know!
Had a Monarch crawl about 15 foot and up above the shop door last year. But I usually take them in as young cats to protect. I went out of town for about a week and saw it one day but was too tired to do anything. Told myself I would bring them inside in the next morning. Well, it was gone, then a couple days later DH just happened to see it. I got a ladder and took him down and inside.
well, I've shown DH what the chrysalis looks like, and warned him they could be anywhere, so I hope we don't lose any to human error. I may end up bringing them in if I see any disappearing to natural predators, I want a yardfull of these beautiful butterflies!!
Sorry to dissapoint you thea, but when they emerge....they are in no mood to linger. LOL! They hang out for a few hours, but then off they go. However, once you have them emerge in your yard it does draw more to lay eggs!
Oh NO!!! That's gratitude for ya!!! I've got lots of flowers, many of them butterfly pleasers, I hope they'll stay around at least long enough to nectar up before they take off!!
Hi Thea,
I have been killing wasps last 2 days. I really don't like to (they eat other bad things), but don't want them eating my gulf frit eggs. They are on my passion vine. I had a varigated frit and I know she laid eggs on the vine, so have been watching it. Found Black Swallowtail cats today,, yeah.
I'm going to run out and look to see if I have any BST cats anywhere, but I looked yesterday and didn't find any. Good for you Elaine, I'm glad you have some!!! I'm worried, my dill and parsley are all looking like they're ready to give it up, if they die, the BST's won't have any host plants in my yard. I've seen a few flitting around, but no cats! I've only found 4 this year, and two died. And yesterday, the GF cats on my passionvine started wandering around, looking for a place to pupate, and then we had a huge storm; I hope they didn't drown! I just saw one huge cat on the vine this morning, and he's now ready to pupate. I'm a nervous wreck and it's just the start of summer!!!!
What ButerFly Makes white cats?
Is it a white caterpillar with black spikes? That's what Zebra Longwings cats look like. They would be on passion vine. I can't think of too many other white cats off the top of my head.
Melanie
yup thats it thanks
You're welcome! Lucky you to have such cool caterpillars.
I've had only two kindsof white cats, I think. Zebra Longwing cats I've had two different years. Otherwise, they stay farther south.
The other kind was the Janais Patch cats, which are kind of white during the last instar. I think they're probably only in Texas and only came this far north one year. I miss those...wish they'd show up again. Funny how the white ones with black spikes are fairly tropical.
