Tag Archives: gulf fritillary chrysalis

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.

The gulf fritillary

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It’s always fun to find where the caterpillars end up in the garden, as more times than not they are far from their host plant.

This gulf fritillary decided to make its chrysalis on my lantana plant yesterday. When I checked on it this afternoon it had created its chrysalis.

There are so many more caterpillars in different instars throughout the garden.

Big hearts

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Another proud momma moment today!

My daughter, a few days from turning 7 years old, and her friend, also 6 years old, absorb so much information, and with that have such big hearts for nature.

Today, they came running through the sliding glass door, yelling they had to show me something . . . a gulf fritillary chrysalsis that had fallen. You could tell they, too, were proud of themselves for both knowing what it was, and for saving it.

Quite a few caterpillars use her playground as their final chrysalis destination, which is where they had found the chrysalis.

So now, we have a new resident in our butterfly house, hung, so hopefully, it can emerge without any problems.

It absolutely warms my heart how much my daughter, and now her friend, love seeing butterflies. The joy and squeals that radiate off of them when they see a butterfly is rewarding for me. I have shared my passion with two beautiful souls that hopefully will continue to provide gardens for butterflies to enjoy when they grow older.

Fascinating

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This gulf fritillary decided to make its J right at the opening of the butterfly house, which was perfect for me to witness, and photograph (only 133 photos) the chrysalis being created.

It’s truly fascinating to watch, as every caterpillar goes about this final transformation different. The making of the chrysalis always leaves me in awe. As I was watching it unfold through the lens of the camera, I saw the muscle contractions intensify as it was shedding its skin. I am always shocked how violently they “dance” at the end remaining attached to the silken thread that has them attached to the surface they choose.

I had six more in the J form after this one completed its chrysalis. This one joined a half a dozen other chrysalis in the butterfly house. The house is going to be a sea of orange soon.

Fritillary dance

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The gulf fritillary created its J yesterday and today formed its chrysalis. It typically takes anywhere from 11 to 21 days to emerge from its chrysalis.