Monthly Archives: August 2022

Newest resident

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We brought home a new plant from the last native plant sale we attended, another member of the cassia family.

Days after planting it into the ground I spotted a cloudless sulphur caterpillar.

I waited for the caterpillar to grow a little more before welcoming it into the butterfly house as our latest resident. I thought for sure it was very close to the last instar, but it is still munching away on fresh leaves almost every day. I have read they grow up to 1.8 inches.

A neat characteristic of this caterpillar is the coloration, as it turns green, or yellow depending on the green leaves, or yellow flowers it eats. My cassia does not have any flowers yet, as they are both very young trees.

For more information, photographs, about the cloudless sulphur, visit https://bit.ly/3vJIMNd.

The zebra

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The zebra longwing, the Florida state butterfly, depositing an egg on a corky stem passion vine. They lay yellow eggs, which I mostly find singular, rather than clusters on the leaves.

They are considered a medium sized butterfly.

Their flight is slow and fun to watch, especially since they do not scare easily.

Another hatch

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We ended up having two successful gulf fritillary hatch in our butterfly house today. We have officially hit 20 successful hatches.

It definitely did not waste any time finding some nectar from a white lantana after being released.

Fascinating

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It’s truly fascinating to watch nature, the lifecycle unfold right before your eyes.

Today there were two gulf fritillaries attached, mating, in our front garden. The first I have witnessed of this species.

I went to move a leaf, carefully not disturbing the courtship, to take a photo, and the male climbed right onto my finger before taking its companion on a flight to another destination.

As I have stated before, the male, after successfully courting the female, will meet the top of the female’s reproductive opening by bending the tip of his abdomen and grabbing firmly with its claspers. This is done in opposite directions, and if disturbed the female will fly upside down while attached to the male.

They were together for quite a while.

Good thing I have lots of the gulf fritillary’s host plant in the gardens for the female to lay eggs.