A few from yesterday & today. Be sure to click to embiggen.

Swallowtails and Hairstreaks, oh my! And making me jealous of coneflowers again!

The swallowtail & both hairstreaks were on it at the same time but the swallowtail decided it was getting too crowded with all 4 of us there & decided to split. I enjoyed the sight of all 3 there at once though.

Well, my excursion into my neighbor's yard has produced an interesting rash on my right hand. Yesterday, it was just a red patch and I wasn't really sure what it was. But when I woke up this afternoon it had the added feature of little bumps on it. So hydrocortisone has been applied and I've found it works great on almost everything. You see, one time I got some kind of fungal infection on my wrist. It was super itchy and the hydrocortisone wasn't working so I went to the doctor. She told me it was a fungal thing and talked about how you can get it and I heard her mention soil. I said, "Well, I'm a gardener." She paused for a moment and said, "I'll prescribe the big tube." I thought that was so funny! But it came in handy as I had to use the cream a few more times over the years. I used to compost before I got sick so I'm sure that didn't help - well, it didn't help my fungal infection rate, it helps the environment and your garden and I wish I could still do it. It also didn't help that my bromeliads were constantly leaving little scratches on me for bacteria and fungi to enter. Now I wear rose gloves!

Just a couple of Polydamas caterpillar shots today. I did my usual wake-up check on the cats because I knew they would need food but I like to see how everyone is doing, too. And the Polydamas are molting. When I saw this, I thought they were too close to the top and I don't like them being so close to where I put the lid on, but what can you do? Then I thought, "The family that molts together, stays together?" I don't know why some caterpillars stick together while others go their own way. Polydamas will hang out together until they're pretty much in their last instar. It's weird. I wonder what kind of advantage it gives them over other species?



So then I went outside to get caterpillar food for the Pipevine ST, Polydamas ST, Spicebush ST, and the Long-Tailed Skippers. Whew! By the way, the lone survivor Spicebush from the original batch that all died seems to be okay. He's still not growing as fast as he should but he is eating and pooping so that's good. While I was outside picking pipevine and swatting mosquitoes, I found some more Polydamas cats. Because like I told Mom, "There are always more Polydamas." I forgot to count them but I think there were about six of them all together. Here you can see one on the left of the pic with the main group on the right side.

Hey guys, I just checked my email and my BAMONA report was confirmed as that butterfly being a White-Checkered Skipper! I've never seen one before; we usually only have the Tropical Checkered Skipper which has a very distinct shade of blue on it. Wonder why we've suddenly got the other kind? This has been a weird year for butterflying; I need to stop questioning it and enjoy it. But I guess I wouldn't be much of a scientist (or philosopher) if I stopped questioning things, huh? Anyway, if you want to see the record of my sighting and the notes, here's the link. http://www.butterfliesandmoths... It's interesting that they think it's a female because I did see one laying eggs but I wasn't certain it was the one I was taking pictures of because there were three of them flying around (that I could count at one time, anyway). I'm not familiar with the weed it was laying on but it says they use things in the mallow family. Maybe I should check my Flowering Maple (Abutilon spp.)?

Hello!
This is an update on the two swallowtail caterpillars living in our butterfly cabana. :)



They ate two dill plants and I placed a parsley plant yesterday. We saw some black gunk that my youngest declared 'yucky and cool'.

We just checked on them and one seems to be getting ready to make its pupa.



The other one, much larger, seems less ravenous than before, but still eating a bit.



What do you think? I hope they make it...

Ive, we haven't talked about gut purging in a while and I think that may be the black stuff your child decided was "yucky and cool". Kids say the most awesome things, by the way. I thought my caterpillar was dying the first time I saw it happen. You see, when a Swallowtail (as far as I know, only Swallowtails do this) is ready to make a chrysalis it goes through a process. It will find a place to settle down, usually somewhere it can stand up vertically, but not always. It will stay there for several hours, not eating, but pooping. Then, after a couple of hours comes "the gut purge". This is when the caterpillar flushes everything out of its digestive system. Cool fact - even some of its internal organs that are no longer needed are expelled! Some caterpillars take on a more translucent look after the gut purge because of this. Then, the caterpillar enters a "wandering phase" for several hours, looking for that perfect place to make a chrysalis. If you have a lot of caterpillars in one cage sometimes you have to move the wandering one to another cage because they will crawl over everyone and everything and generally make a nuisance of themselves. Then, they find that perfect spot and settle down. Then, they build the sling, as your one caterpillar did. Once they've built the sling, it takes about 24 hours for them to make the chrysalis. So if you saw them build the sling in early afternoon, chances are they will build their chrysalis in early afternoon of the next day. Non-Swallowtail caterpillars can do this part of the process a little quicker, in most cases. But all Swallowtails gut purge and it is just one of the many non-glamorous parts of the job I love explaining to the guests at the museum who think what I do is "so magical". Actually, it's science!

And for a little more science...while in the chrysalis, the caterpillar essentially breaks down into a liquid! This is one reason they expel those internal organs in the gut purge - they don't take anything not needed with them into the chrysalis. Their whole body reforms and it's only the last couple of days before they emerge than you can even make out the butterfly shape. When they come out, they pump fluid into their wings but will also expel the meconium (waste products) they have been storing while in the chrysalis. Metamorphosis is crazy cool! Except for when my Sulphur excreted some meconium on my t-shirt at the museum the other day. I sprayed it with Oxy Clean; it should be fine.

As an aside, I've watched caterpillars for so long, I can tell when they're getting ready to gut purge. Sometimes I move them to their own cage or tupperware to do it so they don't get the whole cage (and the food) all messy. You see, their frass (poop) actually starts to look a little different in consistency; it's hard to explain if you haven't seen it. It's actually a little sad I know this much about caterpillar poo. But at least I have a heads-up for when I need to move someone.

Melanie, your butterfly knowledge is awesome!!!

Melanie, thanks for your detailed explanation. I have a very curious 7 year old that can't get enough of knowing about what happens in his own backyard. I am loving this stage so much!

Thanks guys! You know, most classrooms seem to use Monarchs and Painted Ladies, probably because they're easy to get a hold of and you can release them almost anywhere since they have such a huge range. But Swallowtails are far more interesting as they do more during metamorphosis and they tend to have more defense mechanisms. Eye spots! Stinkhorns! So I think they're more fun to raise and more educational, personally. I've been watching my Spicebush cat roaming around and I told my dad the other day, "I think I could watch that Spicebush all day long." And that's a good thing because lots of scientific data comes from simply observing how a species acts. The scientific method is great but I think we tend to overlook the importance of simple observation. That's how I've learned so much about caterpillars and butterflies. Although, if the museum guests want to believe I have an entomology degree, I'll take it!

Ive, that's great that you've got a child that's curious about science and the natural world. I find that the vast majority of kids who come to the museum are full of really good questions - they really surprise me sometimes! In fact, the most disappointing thing that has happened to me has been a couple of times when a kid was talking to me and their parent made them leave because "we have other things to do/see". Now, sometimes they have tickets for one of our IMAX films or they may have a sibling that's acting up and I that I totally understand. But I've had a couple of instances where children are talking to me and you can tell their parent is bored and that's why they get dragged off. There was one lady that I wanted to shout, "Do you realize your elementary-age child just had a five minute conversation with me about science, asked some very intelligent questions, and you want to pull her away from that?" I hear so much talk about how "kids these days" have no attention span and stuff like that but when I do get one that's interested I see the parents are usually the ones that get bored first. It's disheartening. But that's only been a few people. Most are really interested and I have a lot of people who take our brochures about how to start their own butterfly garden. On a funnier note, I was talking about mating this weekend because of that pair of Monarchs I pictured. And I had one mom say, "Oh, they don't know what you're talking about", in reference to her kids. Now, the younger one may not have, but the older one? I had to bite my tongue from asking, "Do you have the internet? Because they totally know what I'm talking about."

You are right Melanie.

Good morning!

This is how we just found the caterpillar that was doing the sling last night:



With all these pics, we're definitively making a book. My youngest is not very keen on writing, except about things he finds interesting. Looking forward to expand this family project!

Wishing you all a happy day.

Ive, that looks like a fine chrysalis. Can't wait to see the butterfly in about two weeks!

I don't have any butterflies today because it pretty much rained all day long. Well, it was raining when I got up around 11:30 which is actually really early for it to be raining this time of year. I managed to catch a quick break to go pick caterpillar food and then it started pouring again. I ended up going to the movies and doing a double feature ("Chef" and "Edge of Tomorrow") but that's mostly because I wanted to be away from my family (they're annoying me again). But I did take some caterpillar photos for you guys. Oh! And in big news my boss got hold of three Hickory Horned Devil caterpillars (google them, they're awesome). I think she got some eggs too, but she was a little excited and incoherent on Facebook. I hope they're still caterpillars on Sunday; they were really big and she thought at least one would pupate soon.

Here's the Polydamas who have now molted.



When they molt, their head capsules and feet are light-colored for several minutes and then they darken up to match the rest of the caterpillar. I'm not sure why that happens, but it looks cool.



Here's another Polydamas group (I'm going to have to move them to a bigger tank, pronto) that is getting ready to molt. I don't understand how they can molt when they're so close together. I mean, they have to scoot forward to molt and you think the other caterpillars would be in their way. Still, I've seen them scoot in all directions to make it happen. The reddish colored one is closest to molting (hence, the color change). Plus, you can see his head capsule is lower on his body than it would normally be.



Raising Long-Tailed Skippers is hard, especially when they're small. And they don't get to be that big of a caterpillar so they're small for a while. With all their nest-building they can be hard to find. I just keep putting fresh food in there and figure they'll find it. I did find two of the cats today so that was good. The eggs are in there, too. Here, you can see how small these guys are in relation to my thumb. I love that their heads are so huge compared to their bodies. It evens out once they get big, though.



And just to show you another shot of my hand... Here's what poison ivy apparently does to me. It's not that bad, though. It hardly itches. Yesterday, the skin felt kind of tight, but I keep putting hydrocortisone on it and it seems to help.

for the poison ivy rash. There's some stuff you can get to put on right away (you wash with it) that takes all the residue off so you don't spread it everywhere. It's called Technu
http://www.teclabsinc.com/blog...

You can get it at drugstores & probably Wal Mart & the like.

Thanks Ann, I was reading about that stuff last night because they recommend it for people like forestry workers or utility linemen who can't avoid the stuff. It actually looks a lot worse than it feels. It's not really bugging me that much except for looking awful. Hopefully, I don't scare the guests at the museum this weekend! I did make sure to read that it can't spread because I was totally worried about touching my face or something and spreading it.

Just tell the ppl that you got into poison ivy. Simple. Probably a lot of parents out there who will be glad you do so in hopes their kids will listen better to them about the dangers of poison ivy.

I don't seem to have a reaction to it. But, I do have reactions to other things & find that those nitrile gloves like dentists & docs use are great for all kinds of uses. They're cheap & you buy a whole box full at a time.

Thank goodness we don't have that ivy here.

I've seen those nature shows about Australia. I think you have plenty of dangerous things that I will happily pass on!

Lol. You are not wrong Melanie - but you have to be unlucky.

Hi all, I'm hoping you don't mind me posting this interesting moth here. I'd be so glad if one of you knows what it is. My DH found it on the floor of his shop this morning. It's about 1 1/4in long. I couldn't get it to spread its wings. Suspect it's not feeling well, and feels like the floor offers some protective coloring.