Hi folks! I'm operating on very little sleep so as soon as this post is done I'm taking a nap! In good news, the blistery-things on my poison ivy rash have dried up. It's just scary and red right now. Doesn't hurt. I had to go get my allergy shots today and I wondered if I should be doing that with a poison ivy rash but I took a Zyrtec and I seem to be good. I've got a mix of caterpillar and butterfly shots for you all today so let's get started!
I searched the Senna ligustrina since I knew there were eggs on it. I found these two cats near each other and brought them inside. They could be Cloudless or Orange-Barred Sulphurs. When they're that small, who can tell?
I saw a bunch of sulphurs flying around when I pulled in so I went out to see what they were doing. I cropped this photo and sent it to BAMONA for ID. I think I can tell the difference between a Dainty Sulphur and a Barred Sulphur now. I believe this to be a Dainty Sulphur. There were three of them flying around.
I also cropped this photo of an unknown skipper that was flying around disturbing the Dainty Sulphurs.
Doesn't this Gulf Frit look great?
Now, the other day you may remember the BAMONA folks confirmed my strange sighting as a White Checkered Skipper (probably female). To remind you, here is a picture.
Today I saw the more common Tropical Checkered Skipper, although I submitted the pics to BAMONA because I want to be sure I can tell the difference. As you can see, the Tropical one has a distinct blue tint whereas the other does not.
The Zebra Longwings were on the firebush, as usual.
Back in my room it was feeding time which meant caterpillar poses! Here are three of my Spicebush cats. Obviously, there's the big guy I found on Sunday. At bottom is the caterpillar that just won't grow, although right at this moment he's crawling around which is a good sign, I guess. And to the northeast of that little hole in the leaf you can see a baby that hatched like two days ago. The lighting in my room sucks and I'm avoiding my family so I can't take pictures in the kitchen.
Long-Tailed Skippers have a horrible death rate, even in captivity. Not as bad as sulphurs, but close. I know one died so far, but today I was lucky enough to find three while I was adding the new food in. I moved all three to a new leaf since they weren't molting and I'm trying to help. Here's two of them on one leaf. They're tiny! It's a good thing their heads stand out against the green of the plant or I would never find them!
I thought the Polydamas were devouring stem, as per usual, but they're having a molting party. They like to do things as a group.
Now, if you're lucky like me, you get Polydamas and Pipevine STs in your area. I already talked about the egg color difference, but what about once they hatch? Well, they're very similar, and they both love to eat stem. Seriously, right now I've got the Pipevine tank sitting on top of the Polydamas tank and they're both attacking the stems. Now, it's hard to tell the difference when they're very little, but as you can see, once they get big enough (at least by the third instar) the Pipevine ST has super long tubercles (those fleshy-antenna thingies) in the front. That's the easiest way to tell. Pipevine cats are a little darker but they can change color near their molt, as do Polydamas, so the first pair of tubercles is the easiest way to tell what you've got. Here they are on my hand (yes, my hand again). Sorry I couldn't line them up better, but you try caterpillar wrangling sometime!
In final good news, my boss at MOSI said she has like 50 Regal Moth eggs so I should be able to show you those Hickory Horned Devil cats until I go on vacation in mid-July.
