The blue porterweed and maypop passionvine are a must for the gulf fritillary butterflies. At least, in my garden they are favored by this beauty.
These two plants are growing in abundance in both my front and back butterfly garden, which sees a great deal of action from the gulf fritillary butterflies as soon as the 8 o’clock hour throughout the day until around 7 p.m.
This one photographed below laid eggs on the maypop passionvine and then visited the blue porterweed directly next to it to sip some nectar before the process began all over again.
The swallowtail butterflies are absolutely stunning. It’s always fascinating for me to see the transformation from a caterpillar to a chrysalis to a butterfly.
The polydamas swallowtail caterpillars are viscous eaters who take a long time to reach their desired size. I always know when I have caterpillars chowing down on the Dutchman pipe because more than half of the leaves fall to the ground as they find the perfect spot to eat.
This morning the first of more than 20 emerged in our butterfly house. This beauty stuck with me for a while before it crawled on the porterweed to hang out a little longer.
This marks 26 that we have successfully raised and released.
The polydamas, also known as the gold rim swallowtail, tailless swallowtail and scientific name Battus polydamas lucayus, lays its eggs on the Dutchman pipe. This is the only swallowtail that lacks the tails at the base of the secondary wings, according to the University of Florida.
This species can be found throughout peninsular Florida, as well as in the Florida Keys. There are some that wander as far north as Missouri and Kentucky.
For more information, check out the link below, which includes quite a few photographs.
Tons of gulf fritillary butterflies are visiting the gardens today.
Here’s an assortment of the three visitors I was able to photograph . . . sipping on nectar (blue porterweed and lantana), resting and laying eggs.
It’s fascinating to watch them. One of them went from host plant to host plant laying eggs and then stopping at a nectar plant to take a sip before returning to lay more.
There was one that almost landed on my leg a few times, almost.
The zebra longwing, or zebra heliconian, butterfly sipping on some blue porterweed. This beauty was named after the stripped pattern of the wings, which also is a warning to predators that it is toxic. According to the Florida Museum of Natural History the cyanogenic glycoside chemicals taste bitter, and come from the passion vine host plant.
This butterfly is unique as the male zebra longwing will mate with a female before it emerges from its chrysalis. Once the female is found, the male will visit the chrysalis repeatedly. The female will emerge during the process, expanding her wings as the mating goes on for several hours.
The butterflies can be found from Peru to as far north as Texas and Florida.
This graceful flyer flew around me multiple times while I stood in the garden going from our lantana plant (nectar) to the maypop passion vine (host) to the blue porterweed (nectar). This zebra longwing butterfly was not bothered by me at all watching her eat and lay eggs.
This butterfly is very intelligent, as they can remember where they last fed, returning daily to the same source.
