Christine, did you get lost again?

I have to correct myself in regard to my microscope pics. Those squares are only 0.5 cm across! So even smaller than I thought! I found another super tiny Cassius Blue cat when I was picking fresh food for them yesterday. And one of them changed to a reddish color. I thought I remembered them doing that the first time I raised them, but I didn't mention it before because I wasn't sure. I think it means he's going to pupate. It's the big one that did it.

Well, I'm off to eat breakfast and do some work in the garden! I have to cut my pentas back and it's going to kill me, but I know it's for the greater good. It's not like I'm seeing much out there, anyway. I don't think I'll have to cut all of them back, but some of them got pretty scraggly and need a trim. Hopefully, I'll get some fun pictures today!

Yes, Melanie but I'm glad to be here now!

I was thinking of doing some gardening today but looks like some rain storms are headed this way...

We are glad your're here also...I often get lost for a while! The tiger swallowtail was here for 4 or 5 days, then haven't seen it since. I keep looking on host plants...but then again, I seldom see their eggs until the cat emerges. Don't know why.

I do not know if I am all that Happy or not , but a Cabbage White did a fly by while I was in the garden this afternoon ,
Looking over my cabbage and Kale ,and whatever goodies it could plan on likely ,,
Have seen a few moth species , That is the first butterfly I have had a good look at this season ,, usual opener for many ,

I saw a Tiger Swallowtail today! My first of the year!
It was trucking across the yard in a hurry, so no photos.

As always, I love everyone's photos, info, & stories!

Well, my plans to garden yesterday got derailed when I went back to sleep. But I woke up this morning ready to do some work! I kind of needed to; I wanted to get stuff done before it rains tomorrow.

I did see some butterflies yesterday, though. I saw my first Swallowtail - it was a Giant ST - but it flew right by me. Nothing on the Rue, yet, but I'll keep an eye out.

I did get pictures of this Cloudless Sulphur on the Pentas.



And the Corkystem Passion Vine got egg-bombed by a Gulf Fritillary. I only got this one pic because my lunch was getting cold.



Okay, so I got up today and got a little annoyed because I needed to pull weeds and trim plants and there was only one empty garbage can. Two of them were out by the curb waiting for the yard waste guys. Dad went to the dump yesterday, but I'm kind of wondering what the point was if there was still only one garbage can left. I filled the one can and then decided to go to that place I don't talk about because I have Fifth Amendment rights. Let's just say, I'm in the market for some Pawpaw fruits, but I found out I'm a little early.

Most people know the Pawpaw tree, Asimina triloba. But down here in Florida, we don't get the tree species. Instead, we have several shrub varieties. All of them are hosts for the Zebra Swallowtail, which happens to be my favorite butterfly. I think this is Asimina reticulata, but don't quote me on that.



Now, I'm pretty good at finding caterpillars. Zebra STs, like most cats, prefer new growth. The problem is that this time of year, everything is new growth! It's actually easier to find them in summer and fall. But you know I found some anyway! Here's my big guy. He's probably third instar. He's black now, but could turn green.



Then, I found this little guy in the "apostrophe pose".



You know I brought them both home. They're living in separate containers because Zebra STs do have a tendency to attack each other. Some books will say they're cannibals, but they don't seem to eat the other caterpillars, just pick them up with their jaws and throw them, much like they do their frass. Whether they even realize it is another caterpillar is up for debate, in my opinion. They're worst when they're late second instar through third instar. The little dudes are pretty chill, and the big dudes are just fat and lazy. It's the middle sized ones you have to watch.

And where there are caterpillars - there are butterflies! Here's my fave, the Zebra ST. It's the only member of the Kite Swallowtail family in North America. Literally, that means Swallowtails shaped like kites. See how its wings are more triangle-shaped? Also, their tails vary with the season. Spring butterflies actually have shorter tails, if you can believe that! The ones in the summer have the longest tails; they're pretty awesome.



I had to look this plant up because the pollinators were loving it, and I knew I used to know what it was. It's Florida Pennyroyal. I'll submit this Skipper to BAMONA. I always get them wrong.



Oh yeah, one hazard this time of year is the Sawtooth Blackberry. They grow right alongside the Pawpaws which is bad news for my legs, but the butterflies like to nectar on them.



This is Corkystem Passion Vine growing on Carolina Willow. The first is a host plant for the Zebra Longwing, Gulf Fritillary, and Variegated Fritillary, while the latter is a host plant for the Viceroy. I didn't find any of those things, but I love seeing host plants on host plants!



I saw a few Phaon Crescents despite the mowing of their Frogfruit. I'm sure there's more off the trail.



I know the markings on this Skipper should tell me which one it is, but I'm too tired to go get my book.



Back at my house, it's more Skippers.



Green anole trying to impress.



Despite all the pruning and pulling I've done lately, there's still Spanish Needles to eat.



I have seen a Monarch floating around the last few days, but no pictures yet.

on all the other swallowtails!

BAMONA says my Skippers are Whirlabouts except the one with the markings I said I should know. That one is a Southern Broken Dash. I kind of knew that, but I was too tired to think. Also, BAMONA got back to me real quick last night which again makes me wonder why they have nothing better to do on a Friday night.

I spent my Friday night watching old "Simpsons" episodes. There was the one where Lisa's substitute teacher bullies her and so Principal Skinner and Mrs. Krabappel decide to go with "the nuclear option". That is, they put Bart in the class. The teacher leaves for two minutes and comes back to find the classroom destroyed. But the best part is Bart wrapped Ralph in the world map and Ralph says, "When I come out, I'll be a butterfly!" I laughed so hard at that one.

Since it's supposed to rain today, (hooray!) I'm going to bust out the microscope later and take some pics. One of the Cassius Blues pupated. Plus, I want to put my tiny Zebra ST cat under the lens!

Why they have nothing better to do on a Friday night? Haha! Just reminds me just how rarely I go anywhere on a Friday night! Last night I watched Grimm on TV while a front hit us outside! That's about as exciting as it usually gets.

Why they have nothing better to do on a Friday night? Haha! Just reminds me just how rarely I go anywhere on a Friday night! Last night I watched Grimm on TV while a front hit us outside! That's about as exciting as it usually gets.

Some other visitors in the garden...
I don know the name of this first one


This one is "Mariposa lechera" (Tatochila autodice)

Another ones...
"Espejito"





Another white one

Lovely, Ceci. It's such a treat for us to be able to see your butterflies all the way from Argentina.

Nice to see BF from (way) south of the border...

Thank you Elaine and Jmorth !!

Cecilia, I think you might have a Great Southern White there. I Googled to see if they are in Argentina, and oddly enough, that's the first thing Wikipedia talks about. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... It says they're known there is "pirpinto". Does that translate to something interesting? I'm still digging "Espejito".

Back in a bit with pictures...

Okay, you may have noticed I have emerged from my Flexeril-induced coma. All that gardening I did on Friday messed me up good. I know I have fibromyalgia, and I know I'm going to pay for any physical activities I do, but somehow it still surprises me. My hamstrings are crying in pain! Back in the day when I used to go to the gym, I always said those weight machines that are supposed to exercise your hamstrings have nothing on a day of gardening!

Let's see, there's good news and bad news. My Orange-Barred Sulphur failed to make its chrysalis correctly. I wasn't too surprised as it had been acting odd before that. Watery frass, didn't "look" right, made its chrysalis in a really dumb place, etc. But it still sucks. I lost a few Cassius Blues. A couple got a fungal disease and you can't really rub them down with athlete's foot cream. You'd probably just smother them to death. Another one died of completely unknown reasons. But there's still good news and I will share it in photo form!

Okay, I did make it to MOSI although it's kind of fuzzy (the pictures and my memory). I was only there for 45 minutes. Just enough to get the basics done and get back in bed. We didn't have a lot of butterflies in the flight cage, but that could be because it had rained nearly all day Saturday and I think a lot of them were just hiding. There's always a few Zebra Longwings hanging around, though.



Believe it or not, it actually took me a while to spot this Orange-Barred Sulphur. They really mimic yellowing leaves very well.



The Monarchs were chilling on the ceiling.



I released one Zebra Longwing and thought that was the only one to emerge, but then I saw movement in the mesh pop-ups and realized I forgot to check those! Good thing I noticed because there were three Spotted Oleander Moths that wanted out! Here's one of them. Sorry for the bad pic. My camera was having trouble focusing.



Now, I'm glad Cecilia reminded me of Great Southern Whites. I didn't see any adults, but I noticed we had three tanks full of eggs. Like most White species, they use things in the Brassica family as host plants. We tend to feed them collard greens or Virginia Pepper Grass. In the flight cage, though, we're using Cleome. You may see it sold as Spider Flower. Mom really likes it, but it doesn't last in the heat. Here's a white one, but they also come in shades of pink and purple.



BAMONA says, "Eggs are laid on the upper surface of host plant leaves in groups of about 20." I rate this claim "mostly true". Great Southern Whites are definitely nicer than Checkered Whites about laying eggs. Checkered Whites lay single eggs which are super hard to find! Laying them in groups makes it a lot easier. FYI, Whites and Sulphurs are closely related, so you might notice their eggs look similar. Yellow, and football-shaped. (American football, that is.) I'm trying to respect our international visitors. So in these pictures you can see that I have a group laid on top of the leaf, on the underside of the leaf, and a few that were laid singly or in small groups.



I took them in and split them evenly among the three tanks that were already set up.

Okay, I promised to play with my microscope. My Zebra Swallowtail cats are doing fine and have molted. You know, I had a dream last night where I was back in Nashville (my first job was there) and in my dream I thought, "How am I going to get pawpaw to feed the cats?" It's weird that I worry about real life even in my dreams. So here's what the little one looks like under the microscope. By the way, Swallowtails have their osmeterium (stinkhorns) from the time they hatch. This one was using them today while I cleaned out his container. Amazing they can be so small and stink so much.



Then it was time for the Cassius Blues! This one is green and pretty big, but I get the feeling he's about to pupate. Mostly because when I poked him, he didn't move and he felt a little firmer than normal.



And this is the one that pupated a couple of days ago. I think they look like little beans. That's probably not a bad strategy. Keep in mind how tiny this thing is! One reason I don't raise them much is because my eyesight is bad enough.

mellielong said:Cecilia, I think you might have a Great Southern White there. I Googled to see if they are in Argentina, and oddly enough, that's the first thing Wikipedia talks about. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... It says they're known there is "pirpinto". Does that translate to something interesting? I'm still digging "Espejito".

Back in a bit with pictures...

Thank you Mellie ! And you are right. That was the butterfly that I saw in my garden. Actually there were two. And another one came later !
I don't know the meaning of the word "pirpinto" It seems that it is only used to call that butterfly. I don't know where it comes from. I have searched in some dictionaries and it is only referred to the butterfly.

Got a couple of pictures while plant shopping yesterday despite the cool, windy weather.

This Skipper (Whirlabout, maybe?) was nectaring on lavender until I scared it over to this pot.



Thought this was a Barred Sulphur at first, but when it landed, I saw it was a Dainty Sulphur. Missing a little bit of wing, but still getting around.



Went to Lowe's, saw this water fountain, am currently trying to convince Dad I can't live without it.



Found my own Skipper back home.



I went to two local nurseries and then to Lowe's. I ended up with six Rue plants (host for Giant and Black Swallowtails), two Salvia 'Amistad', two large and two dwarf Canna Lilies (host for Brazilian Skipper), a bag of Liatris spicata bulbs, and a Panama Rose (Rondeletia leucophylla). If you recall, I saw one at USF Botanical Gardens last year that had a Giant ST all up in it, so I thought I'd try one. Now, where am I going to plant all these plants?!

That's a really cute water fountain!