Okay, I got bored and had to feed my Orange-Barred Sulphur cat, so I wandered around the yard. We got some sprinkles, but not the good rain I was hoping for. While I was out there, I was looking for caterpillars, and while I didn't find the ones I wanted, I did find one species.
So it's time again for "Caterpillar Hunting With Melanie"! In today's episode, we hunt the Cassius Blue. In case you forgot, I took a picture of one last month. Pay attention to where that butterfly is attempting to lay an egg.
So here in Florida, everyone grows
Plumbago (Plumbago auriculata) We actually have a native white Plumbago, but everyone grows the non-native blue one. You can find it at all the big box stores, and it's pretty hard to kill. You see it in a lot of parking lots, too. It's very tough. It's also a host plant for the Cassius Blue, so as long as you grow them, and you don't spray them with pesticide, you get butterflies nearly year-round.
I have this thing where I'm trying to raise as many species of butterfly (and moth) caterpillars that I can, at least once. A few years ago, I decided I was going to raise Cassius Blues. But the trick is finding them. They're a small butterfly, which means a small caterpillar. The real trick though, like I always say, is knowing the butterfly's behavior. See that first picture? The Cassius Blue only lays on the undersides of buds, blooms, and seedpods. That's what the caterpillar eats. So if you're looking at leaves, you're wasting a lot of time. For perspective, here are pictures of my plumbago taken today. That's my Black Cherry tree on the right, and the slightly darker green is my Passiflora 'Lavender Lady'. Don't worry, the caterpillars will be around to chew it back real soon. You can see why Dad doesn't like when it grows into the garage, though.
You can also see that our house is trimmed in blue so my parents thought the plumbago would match nicely. As far as I can remember, we've had them since we built the house in 1994 so I'd say they're long-lived, too. Okay, but that's a big shrub and they get bigger if you let them. Searching for a tiny caterpillar could take forever! Unless you know to only check the buds. These things...
And I found some! Because, of course I did! Now, they're greenish-gray and they're one of the caterpillars that look generally slug-shaped. I'll help you out. In this picture, it's right above my thumbnail, on the right bud.
This guy was the biggest and will probably pupate soon. He's the grayish thing to the right of my finger that's kind of twisted up.
And this one is sitting to the right of the stem, kind of on the leaf.
But to really help you out (and have fun), I busted out the microscope! And as I did, I found a fourth caterpillar. Oh, I also saw an egg when I was outside, but there was no way my camera was going to pick that up. So to the microscope we go!
Let me first say that each one of those squares is one centimeter square. So we're talking really small! This is the big guy. They keep their head capsules tucked up under them unless they're eating. It's that dark spot on the right of him.
You can see they have a wave-like pattern that helps to camouflage them.
Here's the egg I found. Even I'm not sure if it's hatched or not. This is the same piece I found caterpillar number four on, so he might have come out of it.
Speaking of caterpillar four, he's super tiny! The spiky things are part of the plant (the seeds stick to your clothes terribly). The cat is on the top of the bud between the first and third spikes from the right.
Just for some perspective, here's caterpillar four (the smallest) with the largest caterpillar above him! Just like all caterpillars, they vastly increase their size as they grow. It's just less obvious when they start out so small.
And because I couldn't forget my other friend, here's my Orange-Barred Sulphur cat sitting on the kitchen table. Don't worry, he's on the lid of his Gladware. Mom was sitting there reading the paper and drinking coffee - she's used to the caterpillars by now. I did quiz her about the new cats and she answered Cassius Blue correctly!
