Melanie,
I agree with the little boy, those spice bush cats do look fake - they have a 'face'...they're wonderful.

In Houston is the Cockrell Butterfly Museum - last time I visited was on a field trip with my son. The rain forest area was filled with butterflies; they children were so excited to see them landing on each other.

Host & nectar plants on sale Oct. 11 at the museum.

Love the Spicebush cats.

Glen, everyone loves Spicebush cats. That's why they made a Pokemon that looks like one! Seriously, Google it. He's called Caterpie. Even has the stinkhorns!

Well, I took some pictures yesterday and today so let's dive in!

I was up early yesterday which I guess was good because I got to release this male Orange-Barred Sulphur before he could take off into the stratosphere. I tried to get the lighting where you could see the orange bar across the top wing and the orange at the bottom. But notice he lacks the gray spotting like the female. Also, the females only have the orange at the bottom; they lack the "bar" across the top wings.



And I still have another Orange-Barred Sulphur cat. This morning it looks like the colors might be fading and it might be going to make a chrysalis. We'll see.



Now, some of you may remember that I also had a smaller orange-colored Sulphur cat that I was betting money would also be an Orange-Barred Sulphur. He was big enough to be orange, but not quite big enough to tell. Well, I searched the tank for him yesterday when releasing the butterfly and I can't find him. Not good. But oddly enough, I found a green caterpillar I suspect is a Cloudless Sulphur. I know they're not the same caterpillar because the orange one was much bigger when I found him and should have grown over the several days I had him. The green one is much smaller. So I suppose I lost one cat and gained another? Here's a two-for-one picture deal. The green cat (who I highly suspect is a Cloudless Sulphur) decided to molt next to the other Orange-Barred chrysalis I have. Once green guy molted, I took a good look and I'm pretty certain he's a Cloudless. The only other possibility would be a Sleepy Orange but this guy has the yellow stripe down the side so I'm pretty sure he's Cloudless.



Zebra Longwings still loving the porterweed.



Remember the picture of the Long-Tailed Skipper laying eggs? Well, they hatched! And if this isn't the cutest picture, I don't know what is. As you can see, the little guys are starting to build their homes. If you look at the bottom one on the left, you can see where he has cut into the leaf. He will then fold that part over to make the flap to cover himself.



Now for this morning...speaking of Skippers, I have a few to show you. Here's a Long-Tailed Skipper missing its tails. They love porterweed, too.



I "think" this is a Twin-Spot Skipper but I'm going to send it to BAMONA to be sure. I really am trying to learn some of the skippers. And I have seen this one from time to time but even my book says not much is known about them. Kind of weird. Maybe scientists are biased toward the prettier butterflies?



I know I've been saying all year that there are more Orange-Barred Sulphurs than Cloudless and how that's kind of weird. But that's about to change in my yard because I had a Cloudless go nuts on my Senna! But first, she nectared on some firebush. She's a little on the small side for a Cloudless, but they can vary.



Zebra Longwings also love that Mexican Flame Vine. I'm rather partial to it myself.



The Duskywings are still hanging out down by the road where the Spanish Needles didn't get hacked to pieces.



The Polydamas was out laying eggs (again) but I couldn't get a picture. I kept scaring her off and she'd head for the oak trees. I did gather some eggs, though. And I found this bunch of caterpillars so enjoy that. I think the one on the bottom is pooping. Or should we call it "frassing"? I like the sound of that better.

I was a little concerned about my other Orange-Barred chrysalis because it kind of squished itself up against the side of the critter keeper instead of hanging from the cheesecloth like most of them do. I've also been concerned about my Orange-Barred cat. Since last night it's been acting strange. Now, I can definitely tell it's ready to make a chrysalis. The color has faded and it even silked a big spot (inconveniently right under the other chrysalis). But then it was on the bottom of the cage. I laid him on the cheesecloth to get a good look at him and his butt stuck to the cheesecloth so I've left him like that.

FYI, if you have a chrysalis that doesn't make a sling or falls down because your stupid Polydamas cats ate through the stem, they can still be viable! We have a whole pop-up mesh thingie at MOSI we put all those odd chrysalises in and lots of them come out just fine. In fact, some caterpillars make so little silk (I'm looking at you, Great Southern Whites) that we can't pin them so we just throw them in a mesh pop-up anyway. You might have noticed the Atalas in my picture the other day were like that as well. The important thing is to make sure they have something to cling to so they can pull themselves out of the chrysalis. Mesh is good because they can hook their legs in it. Plastic is too smooth so if you have them in a plastic cage, throw some twigs and stuff in there, too.

Anyway, I really just came here to post a photo I took of my Orange-Barred Sulphur chrysalis. It's probably going to emerge soon and I'll probably be asleep when it does. And when I wake up it will just want to fly away. But the good news is - it's a female! So I raised a boy and a girl. Remember how the male had the orange bar (hence, the name)? Well, the female doesn't have that but has a bunch of dark gray dots like I mentioned before. That's how I know it's a female.



I actually had a little girl ask me if a caterpillar was male or female this past weekend and I explained to her (and mom and sister) that the gender wasn't determined until they were in the chrysalis. At least, that's what I've read. I also told them there are ways to look at Monarch chrysalises (that's what they had been raising) to tell the gender and to Google it. I haven't looked at it in a while but there's a very small indented stripe thing that tells you. Personally, I like the surprise and my vision is bad enough without me going cross-eyed looking at chrysalises that close. But that kind of made me wonder - does that mean the gender is decided as soon as the butterfly makes the chrysalis? I thought it would be determined at some point during the metamorphosis, but if the Monarch analysis thing is true, then it would happen at the point they make the chrysalis. One of these days I swear I'm going to visit the butterfly exhibit up at UF and I'm taking a list of questions with me and I'm just going to harass those entomologists all day long.

Okay, Monarch Watch http://www.monarchwatch.org/bi... says you can gender the caterpillars but you'd have to dissect them. And have a microscope. And be a better scientist than me. Because I would have a hard time dissecting a caterpillar even if I knew it was for the greater good. But I still wonder if this applies to other species. Hmm...

Bad news, everyone. My female Orange-Barred Sulphur didn't make it. And neither did my caterpillar. I had feared for both of them. I've just seen it too many times to know when things aren't going well. Just as an assurance though, if you ever do have a chrysalis that is slightly out-of-shape because it made itself against a hard surface (like the side of your tank), it can still come out fine. The Monarchs at MOSI seem to do it all the time, and despite the little indentation in the chrysalis, the butterfly comes out perfect. What worried me about this Sulphur is that when she made the chrysalis, there was some fluid that leaked out and that is never a good sign. So maybe it was doomed from the start.

But in better news, I went out to pick food (and like, 50 Polydamas eggs) and had both an Orange-Barred and a Cloudless Sulphur laying eggs on my Senna ligustrina. Which brings me to a popular myth you might have read in butterfly books. I've heard a butterfly won't lay eggs on a plant that already has eggs on it. The thinking is that the first eggs will hatch sooner and eat the plant, not leaving enough for any later eggs that hatch. And to this I say, "Balderdash!" I've seen it happen time and time again. And not just in the flight cage where the butterflies don't have much of a choice, but in my garden.

Take today, for example. You all know I just posted the pictures of that Orange-Barred laying eggs all over the Senna like two days ago. Well, those eggs are still there. But today I'm out there, and here comes another Orange-Barred laying eggs. This is the pale form, FYI, but you can still see all the markings on her. Also, notice how she has the orange along her body (which is actually the bottom of her wings if she would open them). That's how you can tell the female, along with the dots along the upper wings, the lack of the orange bar across the top of the wings, and the fact that she's laying eggs.



So I'm walking around taking other pictures (you'll see those in a minute) and I see the Sulphur still flying around. Except I look closer, and this is a Cloudless Sulphur laying eggs! Not five minutes after the other one! Now, maybe they can tell that my Sennas are big enough to host many caterpillars. Maybe they know their eggs have a high mortality rate. But the fact is, eggs on a plant won't stop another butterfly from laying eggs. At least, not in all cases. By the way, in the first picture she is somewhat confused and has landed on skunk vine. I really need to pull that stuff. It's so smelly you think the butterflies would be able to tell, but the Polydamas have laid eggs on it, too. As for the differences in the two species, this Cloudless was slightly smaller (the Orange-Barred was a little small, in my opinion), she has no black dots, and is a different shade of yellow although it's hard to compare to a pale-form Orange-Barred.



Now, for those other butterflies. The Spanish Needles down by the road are still popular. This Long-Tailed Skipper was really enjoying them. Normally, Long-Tailed Skippers move from flower to flower very fast but this one actually sat on the flower for quite a long time. Makes me think Spanish Needles must have a lot of nectar in them. It would explain their popularity.



And this Duskywing was also getting in on the action.



There was also a Zebra Longwing or two flying around but they weren't posing for pictures. I also saw what I'm pretty sure was a Spicebush ST but it saw me coming and flew out toward the road. I may be crazy, but even I won't run into oncoming traffic to chase a butterfly.

Oh, and scientists in Helsinki have sequenced the genome of the Glanville Fritillary. Cool!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/re...

It's been a while since I've posted. Sadly I hadn't seen many butterflies around for months. Lizards and frogs have not given monarch caterpillars a chance.
At any rate, today I noticed a few different kinds graving my front yard, something that made me very happy. Zebras, Sulphurs and White Peacocks. Thus made me so happy!
Anyway I got my fyrbaby out to the backyard and was able to snap a picture. :)

Red Spotted Purple






Pearl Crescent

Ive, I've noticed that there are a lot of White Peacocks right now. In the past, I've never noticed them to have a "peak" time of year so I'm not sure what's going on. But I like it!

Dave, you're killing me with those Red-Spotted Purple pictures! I'm so jealous! But I'm headed up to KY and WV next weekend so who knows what I might see? I've never visited during September so I have no idea what I might find. Hopefully, I'll see something new.

Well, today at the museum I saw some old and some new things. The old thing was my old friend Dominic. Dominic was 8 when I met him and now he's 12! He knows almost as much about butterflies as I do. I gave him a net and let him help me catch butterflies out in the garden. I also gave him some Polydamas cats and a Giant ST to raise. He got super excited about the Malachites but I told him there was no way he was getting one on those! My boss would kill me and I wasn't 100% convinced he had Green Shrimp Plant to feed them even though he said he did. I hadn't seen Dominic since I had to quit volunteering and even though I've been back almost two years now, I guess we just hadn't run into each other yet. So that was nice. I like to encourage kids who are really interested in butterflies, and honestly, I'm surprised he's maintained his interest this long. You know how kids tend to grow in and out of things.

Now, the new thing I saw was Malachite eggs! I found five total, but only four are in this picture. For some reason, I thought they laid on the underside of the leaves, but as you can see, they lay right where the leaves all meet up. Interesting!



We put some new sage plants in the flight cage and everyone was loving them, but especially the Monarchs.



The Gulf Frit likes them, too!



The Malachites still like the rotting fruit, though. Today, we had guava in the mix!



Someone caught a Queen but it wouldn't come down! I did have an interesting conversation with a man who thought I meant it like "Queen Bee", like she was Queen of the butterflies. I assured him, that was the actual name of the butterfly. I said, "Monarch, Queen, Viceroy - they're all royalty." Although, I guess the Viceroy is just an aristocrat, but whatever.



Female Orange-Barred Sulphur. We had a pale-form one in there, too, but I guess I didn't get a picture of her or I would have done a contrast/compare.



But you can compare to a Cloudless Sulphur, I suppose. By the way, our Cassia plants are covered in eggs!



This Giant ST has had it rough!



Atala close-up! Also, I found a couple dead ones in good condition so I took a picture to show you that the top of the wings are just as pretty as the bottom.



Look at all the Sleepy Oranges I got to release! When I'm not cleaning up gut purges or yelling at people not to freaking touch my butterflies, this gig is actually pretty awesome.



Pipevine ST caterpillar! One tubercle is shorter than the other. That happens sometimes, even to Monarch cats.



Here's another White Peacock for everyone.



Long-Tailed Skipper



I've got some Zebra Longwings in love, and some Zebra Longwings that love jatropha! I posted a photo a week or two ago with three on one flower cluster, but now I've upped the ante with four!



By the way, I love that people have smart phones now because they just pull out their phones and show me pictures of butterflies and caterpillars. I was talking with a lady about those puss caterpillars that have been in the news and she said she had one on her garbage can lid. She pulled out her phone and showed me, and sure enough, there it was! I've still never seen one. Must be my neighborhood. That's it for today, folks!

Excellent as always Melanie.!

Thanks guys, I aim to please!

Lovely Melanie.

Melanie, you are queen of the butterflies!

Somehow, I feel like if I was their Queen, they would listen to me when I talked. So far, that's not happening.

I had a Polydamas emerge some time today so I released it and took some pictures of what else was flying. This is the fourth Polydamas to emerge in the last week and a half or so. I wonder why they all decided now was the time to come out?



Duskywings are still on the Spanish Needles.



Zebra Longwings still love firebush.



The Monarch found my stash of milkweed over by the fence.



This one is blurry, but it's an Orange-Barred Sulphur cat I found. I also rounded up a bunch of Polydamas eggs. I'm going to drop by MOSI before I leave on vacation and donate all my cats and eggs I can find.



Saw this skipper on the Spanish Needles, too. I'm going to have to submit this one to BAMONA; I want to know who it is!



The Zebra Longwings are also still enjoying my new Mexican Flame Vine.



I had another Polydamas flying around (plus, another Swallowtail I couldn't get a good look at). The Polydamas was nectaring on the plumbago but they flap their wings so fast and move about constantly. They're worse than skippers! So one picture is pretty bad but I wanted you to try to see the top of the wings so you can see why they're also called the "Gold Rim" Swallowtail. The other picture from the side isn't bad, but you can see that when I release them.

Skipper rests on a fallen leaf, in between leaves of Agave geminifolia




And still there after an hour..

Is Coral Honeysuckle a host plant?

I noticed a white spiny 'fuzzy' cat on my 'Major Wheeler' tonight. It was almost dark. Maybe I can get a pic of it tomorrow during daylight. First time I noticed a cat on it in the 3 years it has been growing for me. Didn't know what it was.

Yup, the Snowberry Clearwing moth uses it, and I just read the Spring Azure uses it, too. But it's not spring and the Snowberrys aren't fuzzy from what I can remember. And spiny and fuzzy are words that mean, "Don't touch!" But please try to get a picture. We'd love to over analyze it here on the forum!