Okay, I'm here to post my day's adventures before I call it a night. All that gardening yesterday was hard work and then I made a trip to Lowe's today so I'm beat. Not to mention caring and feeding the caterpillars!
So early this morning before I went to bed, I noticed my Checkered Whites were finally getting ready to emerge! I had two that were showing their Checkers through the chrysalis. One of them had come loose - remember they suck at silking - so I got some pretty good pics of it. It's always a good idea to put some sticks in the container for them to emerge and dry their wings on. That way, if they fall, they can climb back up the stick. You can use bamboo poles, skewers for kabobs, or whatever you prefer. Sticks from outside may harbor small bugs or bacteria and viruses, so I prefer something I know is clean. Plus, all I get are oak sticks and they're usually covered in lichen and moss.
They were both out when I woke up so I went outside to release them. This was about 12:30 pm. Not an early riser today! I noticed the Great Southern White was still out there so I took some photos of it first. Remember, a defining feature of the GSW is the turquoise antenna clubs.
Then, it was Checkered White release time. One of them was acting wild and as predicted, it flew straight away. The other circled around and landed on the bougainvillea. And then it stayed there for a long time. It was plenty warm enough, but I guess it just liked the spot.
Another one of those Brown-Shaded Gray moths was on the front of the house. I was surprised it was in so much sun. They're a little bigger than you might think. I put my finger next to it so you could get a feel for the size. They have a really intricate pattern. I've seen so many, I really need to go lookup the caterpillar and see what they eat. I like to know what attracts them. Unfortunately, there's way less research into moths than butterflies so sometimes it's hard to find these things out.
While I'm thinking about BAMONA and moths, they came through for me with the last two. That all-white moth I saw was an Elm Spanworm Moth. And the underwing I saw was the Similar Underwing. Similar to what, I wonder? I've seen the Ilia Underwing several times so it was nice to see a new species.
I saw a Zebra Longwing which was not surprising, but what it was doing was. It was sitting on the Pentas, but it wasn't eating them. Instead, it had a large glob of pollen on its proboscis. Remember they secrete an enzyme that liquefies the pollen so they can drink it. I think that might have been what it was doing. I watched as the proboscis unfurled and furled just a little ways - not the whole way out. I watched it for a minute or so before it flew off. I wonder if they can only process so much at a time?
In exciting news, three of my Pipevine Swallowtails emerged!
They were all male. You can tell because they have the super shiny shimmery blue on the lower wings. Why do so many butterflies have blue on the lower wings? Because they're imitating this foul-tasting fellow. I think he might be shinier than Mom's Ford Escape in the background.
Some of you with close eyesight might notice the veins running through the butterfly and the yelowish-green substance running through it. That's hemolymph. It's like a simple form of blood. Mammals are a little more evolved than insects, you know. So in these pictures, you can really see where it's pumping out into the wings to inflate them and harden them up!
This Duskywing was posing so nicely I couldn't not take it's picture!
I was so tired when I got home, but the Zebra Longwings needed to be cleaned and fed. Luckily, only one was molting so they were pretty easy to move. Oh, and I think I spotted two Gulf Frits that sneaked in there. I knew I had at least one. So how many do I have? About this many. FYI, a group of caterpillars is called an army, but I like to refer to them as a "teeming mass".
I popped the Spicebush eggs off most of their leaves because once they hatch, it would be very hard to find tiny caterpillars on dozens of leaves and I do have to clean the tank. I kept a few leaves in there for when they hatch. Oh, one of the eggs was definitely a dud because there was nothing in it and it collapsed when I tried to pop it off. Still not sure about the other one. But everyone else looked good. Here they all are.
