Tag Archives: Maypop passion vine

Gulf fritillary host plant

Munch away

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The gulf fritillary caterpillar will eat between 11 to 16 days to reach the correct size to create its chrysalis. This guy is nearing the end of the final instar.

With the maypop passion vine popping up all over the yard, outside of the garden, it has been easy to feed the caterpillars that are residing in the butterfly house. They do not discriminate against any part of the plant – once the flowers and leaves are gone, they go after the stem of the plant.

And of course, what the caterpillar turns into after emerging from its chrysalis. A gulf fritillary butterfly.

The Florida beauty

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The gorgeous, graceful zebra longwing butterfly has laid an incredible amount of eggs on the maypop passion vine lately. In every photograph you can see the yellow eggs that she is leaving behind. Although she will lay one at a time, I typically find a cluster of them in the same location on the new growth of the plant, or the trendrils. I love spotting the caterpillars in the garden, as they are white with black spots and spikes.

If you have visited my page before, you know that the zebra longwing butterfly is capable of laying eggs for many generations each year.

The zebra longwing butterfly was officially designated as the state butterfly for Florida in 1996.

Treasures left behind

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The zebra longwing butterfly left treasures behind on my maypop passion vine this morning. She spent time laying eggs before going to my lantana plant and porterweed for more food.

I find it fascinating that the zebra longwing can live up to several months due to it feeding on both the nectar and pollen in the flowers. If you look closely you can see the pollen on the butterfly’s proboscis. The longwing’s saliva is able to dissolve the pollen taken from the flower for the rich proteins, which enables them produce eggs for several months.

This beauty definitely left behind quite a few eggs.

She left behind a yellow egg.

So many eggs

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More eggs!! I found all of these eggs on my maypop passion vine, which is sprouting up all over the garden a good distance from the original plant. Both the gulf fritillary and zebra longwing butterflies lay yellow eggs on this host plant. It will be exciting to see what hatches.

Brand new

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A zebra longwing, the Florida state butterfly, hatched this morning. It was hidden within the maypop passion vine.

The males will mate with a female before it emerges from its chrysalis, which resembles a dead leaf. Once the male determines it is a female, it will perch on the chrysalis and fend off other males by opening its wings. The mating can go on for several hours, with the female emerging and expanding her wings. I am assuming this butterfly is a male, as there were no other zebra longwings nearby today, or the last few days.

More photographs of this can be found at https://bit.ly/3dWN7q7.