I have always only found the remains of when a caterpillar molts, sheds, its skin. I have never witnessed the process in person until today when I took a peek into our butterfly house.
According to author Thomas C. Emmel of “Florida’s Fabulous Butterflies,” the caterpillar is comprised of chitin, a hard material that is somewhat like fingernails. With this type of skeleton, the author said, it does not grow, which is why the caterpillar, depending on the species, can molt up to nine times. The final stage of its molting is pretty incredible as it prepares to become a butterfly.
I found another male monarch butterfly that sought refuge in our garden. It looks like his wing did not dry correctly once he emerged, making it hard to fly.
I have let him sleep in our butterfly house the last few nights and then I bring him back out into the garden for the day. This morning he was super hungry feeding on lantana (yellow nectar flower) and the penta (red nectar flower).
According to author Thomas C. Emmel, of “Florida’s Fabulous Butterflies” the butterflies proboscis, its “long tongue, or feed tube” can reach three times the length of the butterfly’s body when straightened.
Did you know that butterflies can perceive the widest range of colors within the animal kingdom? These remarkable insects can spot ultraviolet to the red end of the color spectrum. According to the book “Florida’s Fabulous Butterflies” by Thomas C. Emmel, the butterflies eyes are comprised of individual facets, allowing them to see objects as a mosaic with each facet seeing a portion of the total picture. The author said this is comparable to pixels making up a photo on the computer or television screen. Some species can see up to 17,000 facets, enabling them to see finer details. In addition, some butterflies also have 360-degree vision and are great at viewing moving images, which helps when in flight.
The ultraviolet light is pronounced during the daylight hours. According to Emmel, some broad petal flowers have spots on its rim that appear bright to the butterfly in this light, as they reflect UV light. The center part of the flower absorb the UV light casting a darker, or even black color to the butterfly’s eye. The dark helps the butterfly land in the right spot quickly to drink its nectar. This is a great ability for the butterfly as it becomes more vulnerable when drinking, than flying.
The caterpillar eyes (Gulf fritillary photo shown above) on the other hand, have two sets of six simple eyes. The oval-shaped clusters are located on each side of its head. Caterpillars can only see light and dark, and a few inches away.
The links below will direct you to my monarch and gulf fritillary pages for more information and photographs.
There were lots of half eaten Dutchman pipe leaves scattered along the pathway of my garden yesterday, which only meant one thing. I had some big polydamas caterpillars up above. Looking up I spotted seven polydamas swallowtail caterpillars hidden deep within the Dutchman pipe vines. I found the babies a few weeks ago and then they vanished. I was so happy to see that they are still there, much bigger. They look to be either in their last instar or very close. So, to enjoy the final stages, I cut some of the vine and put it in the butterfly house along with a handfull of the caterpillars.
This morning there were three of them clinging onto the same vine, while the other two found some big green leaves to munch. The caterpillar can grow up to 2.1″ in length before creating their girdle.
The link below will direct you to my page about the polydamas swallowtail butterfly for more information and photographs.
After a good rain last night, I took a stroll along our boardwalk to see what kind of life was happening in our garden this morning. There’s something about rain that brings the garden to life in a way that watering with a hose never does.
The monarch caterpillars were plentiful, with many milkweeds chewed down to the stem.
The square garden bed close to a bench my husband made grabbed my attention, calling my name to sit down and watch probably 20 gulf fritillary caterpillars continue to devour our maypop passionvine. They are all various sizes, with many in their molting stages.
According to “Florida’s Fabulous Butterflies” the gulf fritillary is named after the orange-red fritillary flower. Gulf is in its name due to its common occurrence around the Gulf of Mexico. There is always an abundance of this beautiful orange butterfly in our gardens. One of my favorite characteristics are the silver spots, created when “light is refracted through prisms in the wing scales,” which are located across both wings on its underside.
