We came from here: The thread "April 2016 Butterflies, Moths & Larva" in Gardening for Butterflies, Birds and Bees forum

For this month's thumbnail pic, it's everyone's favorite cartoon caterpillar, the Spicebush Swallowtail!



I'll post more pictures later. Today's one of those stay in bed days. Maybe watch some bad movies.

I do have to give lots of credit to Christine for being smarter than BAMONA! I sent my latest picture of the adult Fir Tussock Moth off to them and this time they approved it! Maybe we taught them a thing or two.

nice , but we bird people need a new May thread too

Melanie , still reminds me of the Bookworm with Sniffles the mouse cartoons
Saw a Pearl Crescent a while ago , Red Admirals still making more Red admirals around the Nettle ..

I only make the butterfly thread. Lin usually makes the bird thread, but she's in the process of moving.

Okay, I've got some time to kill before "Game of Thrones" comes on so let's catch up!

Yesterday, the Gulf Frits were still laying eggs all over the place. This is the same one I took a picture of the other day as you can see she's missing nearly an entire wing. Still spreading those strong survival genes, though!



This Duskywing was all up in my Salvia 'Mystic Spires'. I have to say, that plant doesn't attract as many butterflies as you would think, but I did plant it next to Pentas and Porterweed.



My Zebra Longwing eggs are still hatching!



I saw what I thought was the molted skin from a Gulf Frit, when I realized it was a dead Gulf Frit. And there was some weird egg-type thing in front of it. I took a picture, then stepped on the leaf. There was some black stuff inside the thing, but I couldn't tell what it was. It's dead, though. No one kills my caterpillars!



And the Gulf Frits have put an end to the blooming of my P. 'Lavender Lady'.



I went down by the road to pick some Virginia Peppergrass and to see if I could find any more cats. I found nine! And then I walked over to Dad with them in my hand and said, "This is why we don't mow down by the road!"



Well, we mow when I allow it. But not during peak caterpillar season. Now, most of those Checkered White cats were pretty big, and it was no surprise when they began pupating. I don't have to trudge out and pick masses of food for them.



In other news, my Spicebush Swallowtail cat gut purged so I moved him to the chrysalis tank where he can pupate and have lots of room to emerge. Other than that, it's pretty quiet. Hopefully, some of the Pipevine Swallowtails will start emerging this week.

Ho, Melanie I'm surprised you weren't curious enough to take in that white egg-shaped thing (it looks like a chrysalis to me) and see what hatched out of it!

I'm seeing lots more Gulf Frit cats on my P. Lady Margaret today, too. I guess they were too small for me to see before (the vine is high up on the wall of our shop). While craning and trying to get a shot of them, the Tiger Swallowtail "buzzed" me at high speed twice! I swear he wants to have his picture taken. My mission for tomorrow is to take the tripod and the "real" camera out front where my Pentas are, and see if I can catch him standing still for a microsecond or two.

I did get one lousy shot of the Zebra Longwing on my porterweed. There was a whole flock of them around, but finally one that graced my line of fire with a pose. For a second.

Definitely not a chrysalis, Elaine. I'm thinking parasite. I posted it on the Insect ID forum hoping it will look familiar to someone.

By the way, I forgot to mention that Checkered White chrysalises are green, whereas Great Southern Whites make chrysalises that range from cream to light tan. Very similar in shape, though.

Spicebush has changed color and is currently looking for the right place to settle in and make a chrysalis. I'll take some pictures of the color change and show you tomorrow.

Gulf frits are arriving daily.

What a pretty Frit!

Melanie, does this look familiar? Found these on the Echinacea angustifolia but first found them on the leaves of Bidens alba. Some kind of egg? Hope my pic is clear enough.

More pictures - on Bidens alba.

Christine, I think it is frass, also known as poop, but I could be wrong.

I thought that too but it's pretty hard like a seed.

Deep in the recesses of my mind, I feel like I have seen those things before, but I can't remember what they are. It's not an egg; they're never hard like a seed. It's a little too oddly shaped for frass. Might it actually be a seed from a nearby plant? You may have to go to the "Ask a Question" forum with this one. I feel like I've seen this before and it might drive me crazy (crazier) if I don't get an answer!

You know what Melanie. Now that I said they are hard like a seed it made me realize that there is Bird nest fungus growing in the area and I bet with all the rain the seeds ended up on the leaves!

Christine, if we put our two brains together, we would be formidable!

Okay, let me talk about something I do know a little about. Now, many caterpillars change color before they pupate. Sometimes it's subtle, like how Sulphurs become more translucent and a little "glowy", as I call them. Other cats do a complete wardrobe change - without even molting! I've never read a good explanation for why this occurs. I'm thinking chemical changes after the gut purge?

Anyway, for a long time I was irked by my books because they would say how the Spicebush Swallowtail turns "golden" when they are about to pupate. And I would yell, "Are you blind?! They turn orange!" Case in point...



I mean, if that thing was in the woods, a hunter would know not to shoot it because he's clearly wearing his blaze orange!

But then one year, I raised a couple of Spicebush Swallowtails I found at Grandma's in West Virginia. And they were more on the yellow side. Dare I say, "golden"?



And then there's my latest acquisition, who you may remember got mailed to me on a Spicebush plant I ordered from north Florida.



He's not very orange, either. I did read somewhere a while ago, that there are some lepidopterists that believe the Spicebush Swallowtails this far south may actually be a subspecies. That might explain the color difference. I don't think it's based on what they eat because I've fed them a variety of their host plants and they all end up the same color. Something to research, for sure.

Okay, I went out to water the plants and pick a little Virginia Peppergrass for the caterpillars who have not yet pupated.

It's still Gulf Frit Mania out there! This female was trying to relax in the Spanish Needles and this male kept flying all around, and then slid in right beside her. I felt like a nightclub bouncer! "Is he bothering you, ma'am?"



There was a Zebra Longwing out there, too, but I couldn't get a photo. Mostly because she was trying to lay eggs, but realized the vine was already covered in caterpillars. Like I always yell at them, "There's no room at the inn!" Speaking of changing colors, you can see the Zebra Longwing cats are changing from the pale orange to their more typical white.



Part of me wants to bring them inside, but I know if I do that, I'm just gonna get egg bombed again. And I only have so much passion vine! In good news, my Corkystem reseeded itself all over, including down by the main street. Which is another reason my brother isn't allowed to mow it. I'm going to have to find some places to transplant that stuff. Here's some I found growing along with Tassel Flower.

Very interesting stuff! The spicebush caterpillar is one of the cutest, any color.

I'm pretty sure you are spot on right about the seed. Thank you for adding your brain power.

Here's the Bird Nest Fungus.

YES! That happened to me once, too. Now that I see the picture, I remember! The knowledge is in there, but sometimes it takes a lot of force to shake it loose.

Theona Checkerspot on poppy seedpod.