Category Archives: gulf fritillary caterpillar

The ‘it’ place

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My Bahama Cassia tree is the “it” place for chrysalis.

Today while searching the tree for caterpillars, I spotted yet another chrysalis, this time a gulf fritillary.  The foliage of the tree must be a great hiding place for them to safely emerge.

One of the gulf fritillary butterfly’s host plants is the maypop passionvine. This plant I stopped buying as it shoots up everywhere in the garden and has been quite invasive.

According to the Flordia Native Plant Society, it has a “stoloniferous rhizome
root system,” which allows new plants to grow from suckers all over the garden.

To be honest, I do not remember where the original plant was planted in the garden. Now I have it growing in probably more than a dozen places, all over my extensive garden space. It has grown through dense mulch I just put down, too.

For the most part, I have put up stakes where it is growing and just let it be, while in other places I pull the plant. It definitely provides an abundance of food for the gulf fritillary caterpillars.

Chomping away

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A walk through the garden was a treat this morning. There’s caterpillars on almost all the host plants, including these gulf fritillary caterpillars on a maypop passionvine.

Unique

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The maypop passionvine flower is among one of the most unique flowers in my garden, and the most invasive.

This plant has taken over the garden, inside and outside, of the space. To say I have an abundance is an understatement. The gulf fritillary butterfly has a ton of host plant to lay eggs on, and the caterpillars food to eat.

Plenty

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I have spent the last few days in the garden cutting back some plants, pulling weeds and getting the area ready for new additions. This gulf fritillary in particular has become a “friend,” if you will. Every time I am in the garden, no matter what time of day, it flies fairly near and lands on either the ground, or one of the stepping stones close by. I know it is the same one because of its hurt wing.

The gulf fritillaries are among my favorite, just for their unique wings. The population of these butterflies is going to explode in the garden soon as there are tons of eggs on both of its host plants, the corkystem passionvine and maypop passionvine, as well as caterpillars newly hatched to ones that are almost ready for its chrysalis. Of course, my daughter collected many caterpillars, along with the host plant and put them in the butterfly house.

The orange caterpillar

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The gulf fritillary caterpillar will spend up to 16 days eating its host plant (corkystem passionvine), molting, shedding its skin, as it grows larger and larger.

The caterpillars also take in toxins from the passionflower, which are stored and kept in their bodies through turning into a butterfly, according to the Alabama Wildlife Federation.

I am beginning to see a lot more gulf fritillary butterflies flutter about the gardens. I was excited to see a rather large caterpillar resting in the garden near its host plant.