I totally feel like the Wicked Witch because it's so hot outside, "I'm melting, I'm melting!" Here's my update from yesterday and today. (I'm also working up that Zebra ST lesson.)

So yesterday not a lot happened because I mostly stayed inside. We got rain, too! But I was checking the host plants - seriously, I am OCD about host plants. This is why I hesitate to say I go "hiking" because even when I was healthy, I never made it very far because I have to stop and look at all the host plants. But it pays off! I was checking my Spicebush because I still couldn't believe she would lay just one egg and I was right! I found three more caterpillars! Woo hoo!



Ugh, my internet connection went kaput while uploading that picture. They didn't have a supervisor to send out yesterday so they sent a guy who had been here before. He's real nice. He ran a new cable from the box to our house and now we have little orange flags across the lawn. They're supposed to be coming out again soon.

So back to the butterflies. Well, caterpillars. I was outside because I have to feed massive amounts of Senna to my Orange-Barred Sulphurs.



One made a chrysalis so that's one less mouth to feed!



So today I woke up and my American Lady was out. You can totally see my house in the first picture! She then flew to the Giant Milkweed because a Frit came along and they did that spinning in the air thing at each other.



An Orange-Barred Sulphur flew by and I was like, "I didn't want your picture, anyway!" But then I realized she was egg-bombing me so I tried. They're super fast even when they lay eggs. This one had a neat coloration on her. More reddish-orange. As you can see, they will lay eggs on the buds first, but I think she was determined to hit every leaf I had.



Meanwhile, another of my Orange-Barred cats made a sling! Another mouth I don't have to feed. Of course, I've got a whole new generation out there now. It never ends...



So I saw my second Zebra Longwing (in my yard) of the year and she was acting like she wanted to lay eggs on my P. lutea. They love that species, FYI. But as you recall, I already had eggs on it. So I walk over and the butterfly totally doesn't care and even brushes my arm. Zebra Longwings fear nothing! So I look and there are two tiny orange caterpillars on the plant. And I totally forgot to take a picture of them! (Facepalm.) Anyway, my scientific mind wondered if she was hesitating because the plant already had caterpillars. And if I removed the caterpillars, would she lay eggs? So I picked the two caterpillars off, later moving them to the P. 'Lavender Lady' and she immediately started laying eggs!



Now, while I was looking at my pictures I noticed another interesting thing I captured. I've mentioned before that Zebra Longwings can live 6-9 months because they eat pollen as well as nectar. They do this by collecting it on their proboscis, secreting an enzyme that then liquefies the pollen, and then slurping it up. You can actually see the yellow pollen on the proboscis. These aren't the best photos, but if you look you can see it.



I had a Monarch trying to lay eggs on my Giant Milkweed and I shooed her off. It was okay to nectar on the pentas, though.



And while walking around, I scared up a moth! I believe this is one of the underwing moths but I'll send it to BAMONA.



I was ready to go back inside when a Spicebush Swallowtail flew by! But it was headed for my neighbor's yard so I was about to say, "Forget it." But it stopped! Despite all the beautiful, butterfly-friendly, nectar-rich plants I provide, it went straight for the Florida Tassel Flower. Which isn't even native (despite the name)! The butterflies are being weird this year. I'm pretty sure this is a male but I suppose he could be the baby daddy of my caterpillars.

You know, I was going to say you guys need to start pulling your weight around here. But then I was watching the Rays game and they said it was snowing in Detroit where the Yankees are playing the Tigers. So I will continue with the butterflies until spring arrives for the rest of you. My notion of "seasons" is very different than non-Floridians.

A few housekeeping issues before I get to the meat of my post. BAMONA said my Underwing Moth was an Ilia Underwing if that interests you. Also, I got egged again today. This time the culprit was a Long-Tailed Skipper on the butterfly pea.



Okay, now we're going to have a lesson but I temporarily changed the plan. You see, today we're going to talk about Spicebush and Palamedes Swallowtails. As you saw, the other day I went out and may or may not have found a Spicebush (still pleading the Fifth). Well, I put him in a container with the Redbay leaf he was on, a Sassafras leaf, and some Spicebush leaves I accidentally broke off when searching for caterpillars. So he had quite the variety. But he would only eat that one Redbay leaf I brought him in on. Totally ignored the other plants. Now, I've never had trouble switching caterpillars' host plants. I give Sulphurs Cassia and Senna. I give Monarchs different kinds of milkweeds. I switch Long-Tailed Skippers from Desmodium spp. to Butterfly Pea. And they never care.

So I'm kind of scratching my head wondering why this Spicebush won't eat anything else offered him. Since I have nothing better to do today, or any day, I drove back to the unnamed place I found him and picked more leaves. And I found a new friend. Except this friend was different because it was a Palamedes Swallowtail caterpillar!

I've been going through a lot of my old photos to add to the plant database (thanks for the thumbs ups to those who noticed). And I was looking for Zebra Swallowtail photos because I will get back to that at some point. But today I looked for Palamedes photos. I know I haven't raised them very many times and only one at a time. From my photos, I think this is the fourth one I've found.

I have books that say the Palamedes will eat Sassafras and Spicebush, but here I've only ever seen them on Redbay or Swampbay (which are almost the same plant). All of these plants are in the Laurel family. There is a disease going around called Laurel Wilt disease which is killing off the Redbay and Swampbay trees. (It also kills Avocados which are in the same family.) This could be problematic for the survival of the Palamedes because I don't think they'll switch to other plants. I might try offering my caterpillar some Sassafras and Spicebush just to see what he does. But with Redbay in the same container, I think he'll ignore it.

The caterpillars of the Spicebush and Palamedes are very similar and they eat the same plant, so how do you tell the difference? Well, Melanie is here to show you. And scratch her head because I'm sure the first guy I found is a Spicebush but I've never met one so picky before. More on that later. Now, the caterpillars have two phases. Their first three (I think?) instars are spent looking brown and white to resemble bird poop. Then, they molt and enter their green phase where they are a snake mimic. But both phases have subtle differences. The first involves looking at the caterpillars' butt. Not kidding. I have so many pictures of caterpillar booties they could bust me for insect porn.

The Palamedes has a plain white butt while the Spicebush has a brown patch in the white on part of its butt. Behold...Palamedes on left, Spicebush on right in each pic.



Sometimes the Palamedes' head looks bigger and as they grow, it definitely is. But sometimes it's just the way they sit so you can't always rely on that. Ok, here's a Palamedes butt again. Solid white.



Now, once they turn green it can get a little trickier. But once you see them it gets easier. Basically, they both have the prominent eyespots we're used to seeing. But they have secondary spots behind those. In the Spicebush, they are much more developed and obvious, while in the Palamedes they are hardly noticeable. Also, the Spicebush has a circle inside the spot while the Palamedes doesn't. Again, Palamedes on the left, Spicebush on the right.



Here are some more pictures of Spicebush. Look at the spots behind the primary eyespots.



Now, here's a nearly full grown Palamedes. See how his secondary eyespots are much plainer and smaller? Also, they have much larger "heads" and are less streamlined than the Spicebush at this point. And just to give you an idea of size, I put one next to a double A battery.



Here's the Palamedes I found today.



And here's my Spicebush that won't eat Spicebush. He definitely has brown on his butt, although it's not quite as prominent as I've seen on other caterpillars. And FYI, as soon as I put Redbay leaves in the container he started chowing down. He had eaten a good chunk of leaf by the time I drove home. Either he's really picky, he's going to molt into his green form and I'm going to get a surprise and learn something new, or I've got a mutant hybrid I'm going to demand they name after me.



Okay, we've come this far and hopefully we've learned something. But I know some of you are like, "Melanie, I never find caterpillars. I just look for the butterflies." And I have something for you, too. Now, the Palamedes has a somewhat limited range. It's mostly a Southeastern butterfly but it's also present in parts of the Mid-Atlantic. The butterfly it is most confused with is the Eastern Black Swallowtail. First, let me just say that Palamedes are big butterflies, which is why the caterpillars are big. Also, because of their host plant choices, they are usually found in swamps and wetlands. One of their favorite nectar plants is Pickerel Weed. It's pretty rare that I see them in my yard. But when I do it's usually either right at the beginning of spring or in the fall. But if I go hiking in wetlands I tend to see them all the time.

Okay, let's start with the Eastern Black Swallowtail that most of us are familiar with. The dead giveaway for them is the "bullseye" cell they have at the bottom of their wings. They are the only ones that have a black dot inside the reddish-orange cell at the base of the lower wings. You can see it from the top or the bottom or side. Also, notice that their body is black with spots.



Now, the Palamedes has several differences but not all of them are easy to see unless it holds still and since when do butterflies do that? First, Palamedes lack the spot I talked about on the Black ST. Also, they have yellow stripes on a black body as opposed to the spots on the Black ST. They also have a stripe on their underwing that runs parallel to their body. They are the only Swallowtail that has that. But if you're looking at them "on the fly", the Palamedes is larger and has what I call an "airbrushed" appearance. Notice how the yellow on their wings looks like someone airbrushed it on, whereas the yellow on the Black ST is very defined into shapes.



Now, let's just have some fun! Both the Spicebush and the Palamedes caterpillars are devoted students of yoga. No seriously, I think they do this to look more like a snake mimic. They'll even sway back and forth like a cobra, I swear! But this photo always makes me laugh. Pretty sure this is a Palamedes, FYI. It's hard to tell from the side.



And I've seen this before, but someone posted it on Facebook today so I thought I'd share.

Fabulous lesson Melanie! I surely enjoyed it & learned something in the bargain.

I managed to catch an Eastern Black Swallowtail on pixels the other day. Now, let me count how many photos I took.....
an even dozen. I KNOW that butterfly was sitting still at least 4 times the shutter clicked but noooooooooooooooooooooo, I didn't get one good photo, there's something blurry in each & every one. Boo hiss!
Blurry or not, I'll post a couple.






They sure seem to love to nectar on the phlox. For 3 days in a row, when I go out to that area (near the mailbox) to get the mail I have seen one nectaring on the phlox.

The first Butterfly to appear in this season.

Speckled Wood.

Woo hoo! We have Irish butterflies now! I love when we have international visitors. Great photos, Philip! Now that you've given us a taste, we will demand more!

Ann, I'm convinced that butterflies know when you're about to take a picture. And some are more cooperative than others. The Swallowtails tend to continuously flutter their wings when they nectar so it can be hard to get a decent photo. I take a least a dozen to get a good shot!

Great pics all!
I've only seen Cabbage Whites for a total of 2 times.
Sometimes you got to dress and act like a butterfly to get good pics.

Thank you Melanie,..i will be watching and will have camera in hand from today onwards,..we do get a lot of very pretty Moths where i live.

We like moths, too! Some of them can be just as, if not more, beautiful than butterflies. I just don't go out much at night. Mosquitoes are too bad. And the lights on my house never attract anything interesting. But I do find the occasional moth around like the Ilia Underwing from the other day. I was just walking the yard and scared it up. Most moths I see like to rest on the screen around the patio.

Jack, you've learned my secret! I totally wear those headbands with the little antenna attached so they think I'm one of them. And Cabbage Whites are interesting. I've only seen one in Florida and a few in West Virginia. You know, they're one of the few invasive species where it's known exactly when and where they were introduced? I was reading about it in one of my old books on butterflies.

Okay, the caterpillars have reached the point that I can hear them eating in my bedroom. (They're on my nightstand.) At least the Long-Tailed Skipper hasn't gotten big enough where I can hear it shooting its frass off the plastic. You know they can expel their frass (poo) with enough force to send it flying the distance of thirty times their body length? It's a way to keep predators from finding them. They stick their little butts out of the shelter, the frass goes flying, and they tuck their tail back in. This works fine in nature but when they're in captivity you can hear it ricochet off the sides of the container. Gets a little weird when you're trying to sleep.

Your last paragraph had me LOL! I have to admit I've never experienced what you're describing...

Ohhhhhhhhhh Irish butterflies & moths!!!!! I can't wait! That one you posted is neat looking Philip.

Well, the munching quieted down but my Orange-Barred Sulphurs are making chrysalises. And one of them was wandering around all night and he kept crawling on the other chrysalises that have already been made. So of course the chrysalis starts moving back and forth trying to dislodge the caterpillar and in the process it keeps banging the side of the plastic container. Who said caterpillars were quiet pets?

This is all so interesting & TOO funny Melanie!

flaflwrgrl said:This is all so interesting & TOO funny Melanie!

Glad I could share some learning and some laughs with everyone. I set my alarm for 9:00 am because I had to get blood work done at the doctor, so naturally I woke up at 8:00 am. But what was weird is that I was awoken by thunder! First, the fact that it rains in April is a miracle itself, but to have thunderstorms? This climate change thing is getting serious. It stopped raining while I went to the doctor, but was very dark when I came out. I managed to go out and pick caterpillar food while it was starting to sprinkle again. I was picking Cudweed and thought I had found another caterpillar but the nest was empty. I mean, there was silk and frass and a head capsule where it molted, but no caterpillar. I'm going to assume it became a beautiful butterfly because nothing bad happens to caterpillars in my world.

Well, except that the Gulf Frits on the Corkystem Passion Vine in front of the house got that melty disease. It just liquefies them and it's really gross. I saw a cat up on the Jatropha which kind of overhangs the vine and I was going to pick him up and put him back on the vine and he just oozed apart on my fingers. And then I found three more dead! I did find one that looked okay so I moved him to the 'Lavender Lady'. I just hope he's not a carrier because I have a bunch of cats on that vine.

Now, I mentioned that one of my books talked about the introduction of Cabbage Whites from Europe so I thought I'd share that info with you. The book is part of a series called "The Nature Library". This book is "Butterflies" and was written by Clarence M. Weed, D. Sc. It was published in 1926 by Doubleday, Page and Company. FYI, you can find a lot of old books for free on Google Books if you're into that sort of thing. I like to see how science has progressed.

So in the book the author talks about how many of our most destructive insects were imported from Europe. He calls the Cabbage White the "Imported Cabbage butterfly" and says in Europe it fed on cabbages and turnips. He remarks that the insect has been known for centuries in Europe. Now, it is rare even these days to know how exactly a non-native species was introduced. But they know that the Cabbage White first appeared in Quebec in 1860, and then in the region of New York City in 1868. The author says from these two points the butterfly spread in various directions until in 1871 it covered the whole of New England and various parts of New York and New Jersey. From then on it spread through various ports of entry, most likely through the shipments of cabbages from one place to another. Within thirty years it had become a serious pest over practically all of the U.S. and Canada.

The author then talks about two species that have almost gone extinct due to the competition of the Cabbage White. One he names is the Checkered White, which I can assure you is doing fine in Florida. This wasn't a great year for them as I think the late freeze interfered with their host plant, Virginia Pepper Grass. But you usually see lots of them. BAMONA says they can be rare locally and at the edges of their natural range. But if you look at the map of sightings there are plenty of them all over the U.S. so I think they must be doing all right. I will say that I have only ever seen one Cabbage White in this area of Florida. I think maybe it's too hot for them.

The other species he mentions is the Gray-Veined White (Pieris napi). However, current taxonomy shows that this is most likely a superspecies with many subspecies. Even the author back in 1926 admits that eleven varieties in the U.S. have received scientific names as they are so distinct. One is the West Virginia White. I have a modern book on West Virginia butterflies that I use when I visit Grandma. I know it says that the West Virginia White butterfly has become exceedingly more rare since the Cabbage White was introduced. I think the Cabbage Whites may emerge earlier and thus get a head start on the host plants leaving none for the competition of the other species. I have to admit, I've seen Cabbage Whites in WV but no WV Whites.

So there's your history lesson for the day. It's too bad these scientists realized they had an invasive species problem, but not many tools to work with to stop them. Even now, it's hard to get rid of them once they get established. (Ask me about my skunk vine problem. No wait, don't.) And even though we have chemicals that could kill Cabbage Whites, we would end up killing the other butterflies and moths, too. Same with invasive plants - do we want to risk spreading herbicides all over? In some cases, it may be worth it, but in others, maybe not. Then there's the old "let's introduce another non-native that eats the first non-native and see what happens." They're trying that right now here in Florida with some insect that eats Air Potato.

I don't have all the answers folks, but we can at least discourage people from doing dumb things. Like if someone asks you to ship caterpillars or eggs across state lines - and yes this has happened to me - just say no! Even if the butterfly is native to that region, too, you can interfere with local populations that may have evolved their own characteristics (like all the subspecies of Polydamas Swallowtails). Also, I would highly discourage anyone wanting to do a butterfly release at a wedding, funeral, etc. Some of that is because I have this idea that caterpillars and butterflies aren't commodities that should be bought and sold (with the exception of scientific institutes and such). But it's also just a bad idea and usually doesn't turn out as well as you think. I mean, you have to keep the butterflies in the fridge until you get ready to release them! That just seems mean. Plus, I think it just feeds into this idea that nature is something we can control and use as we like and I think we can all see how that's working for us.

Okay, I got on my soapbox again. I'm going to go chill and pet some caterpillars. But probably not the Spicebush. They have the smelliest stinkhorns, in my opinion, and I'm not taking the chance!

flaflwrgrl said:


Ohhhhhhhhhh Irish butterflies & moths!!!!! I can't wait! That one you posted is neat looking Philip.

Lol the excitement!,..and i really am laughing here,..thank you.

We have a huge meadow area here next to the River Shannon and where i walk the dog daily,..plus my garden is more a jungle of flowers rather than a designed garden,..its what i wanted,..and everything comes in here,..the picture below is from the meadow.

Five Spot Butterfly Moth.





It was easy to spot,..spot lol.

I think a "jungle of flowers" is what's best for butterflies. I mean, you probably have to plan somewhat to get your host plants in there. But as far as nectar plants go, I'm always telling people to just leave a weedy patch if they can. I see so many butterflies in the medians of roads and on the side of the interstate! You know, until they mow it. But they've been doing less of that to cut costs and also to increase the wildflowers on the side of the road. We're slowly learning, I think.

Also, I'm totally jealous over just the thought of a meadow by the River Shannon. Doesn't that sound delightful? Yeah, I'm an American who has never been out of the country. Granted, ours is rather large. I know they say, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the pond", or something like that, but I think in Ireland it's true. They call it the Emerald Isle for a reason, right? Plus, I watch "Game of Thrones" and they film parts of the show there and it looks incredible! I bet the butterflies there are so happy.

Below is a picture of my Jungle Of Flowers,..well maybe two pictures,..i am always amazed at why a white wall attracts Butterflies,..perhaps its the heat reflection?,..ah yes America is HUGE,..visited California then up to Utah then back to Ohio and Indiana then in between and around Yellowstone,..managed a visit to the Butterfly House in Indianapolis,..it was fantastic!,..had a Blue Morpho land on my knee.

Blue Morpho Butterfly.



Even better was the feeling of those wee legs gripping my arm.






The Jungle.








Small Tortiseshell.





If you click on my YouTube link you will get a sense of Ireland.

Nice BF and moths Philip. I was especially taken w/ the Five Spot Butterfly Moth.

Until today, I'd only had two BF sightings, Cabbage Whites. Today I got my first pics this year, Cabbage Whites, 2 from garden, 1 from nearby state park. I'm near embarrassed to post due to dredful quality; but, they are the first this year...



(BF's are all upside down and dead center in pics; all shot w/ not the best zoom in the world, using old camera as it fits in my pocket)

From the st. park.