I love Red-Spotted Purples. Don't see them often, but I love them.
Well, my world is just all upside down since that Cloudless turned out to be an Orange-Barred. And I was right - the other chrysalis is clearly turning into a male Orange-Barred! How did they fool me? I'm going to go back and look at my pictures and do some research. I know my boss at MOSI once wrote a blog or something about how the Orange-Barred Sulphurs turn yellow if they eat the buds, but I was like, "No, that's the Cloudless." But maybe the Orange-Barreds alter a bit, too? I mean, they're already yellow but maybe their pattern changes. I'm so discombobulated.
Anyway, I released the female today but she flew away before pictures (more on that in a minute). Here's the male chrysalis where you can see the orange bar forming.
I swear I better get at least one Cloudless out of that tank or my whole world is going to be called into question. And in case you're thinking maybe I just switched the tanks up, nope. I still had Orange-Barred caterpillars while the other tank was all chrysalises. Plus, in the Orange-Barred tank today I have a chrysalis that shows she's going to be a female Orange-Barred. Look for the black dots along the edge of the chrysalis that will become her wing.
So the whole reason I went outside was to pick Cudweed. Here are the three American Lady cats I'm raising.
Then, I went back outside to release the Sulphur. I was yelling at her for flying away when I noticed something else far more interesting flying around. I saw a Great Southern White. But the one I saw was male! Woo hoo! I have a male and female in my yard! I hope they're laying on the pepper grass. We're supposed to get rain the next few days so I don't know how much caterpillar hunting I'll be able to do. As you can see, the male is nearly pure white, but still has those turquoise antenna club that are the hallmark of the Great Southern White.
The Gulf Frits are still out in force and one of them was bound and determined to lay eggs on my Corkystem Passion vine that currently has very few leaves, all of which are chewed. Now, sometimes butterflies lay eggs near a plant, but not exactly on it. Some do this on purpose. But I have to feel that this Gulf Frit was just being dumb when she laid an egg on my obelisk and not the vine.
Back inside the house I'm still waiting for my Spicebush (?) to molt. Under the white parts you can see a green tint. It's hard to see in photos.
And the Palamedes is just being a Palamedes. Now, they don't tend to build nests quite like the Spicebush but they are still a snake mimic. The picture I took head on is what other animals see if they peek into a Spicebush nest or spy a Palamedes. Sometimes, those eyespots are enough to scare them away.
