The bahama cassia is crawling with orange barred sulphur caterpillars of every instar. You often times have to really search for the caterpillars, as they have great camouflage with the leaves.
Sulphur caterpillars everywhere
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Tag Archives: orange barred sulphur caterpillar
Sulphur galore
The temperatures have been a little cooler, by that I meam a few degrees – still 90s/80s, and a nice, a bit cooler wind, so I’ve gravitated back into the garden after apparently ignoring it for way too long. All of the rain has made everything double, if not triple in size, including the weeds.
So, I’ve decided to tackle the farthest point of the garden and move backward. This area includes a section near my candlestick cassia. The tree is growing in every direction and is crawling with sulphur caterpillars, both orange barred and cloudless sulphur caterpillars.
When cutting back my scorpion tail, I found quite a few chrysalis, which have been moved to my butterfly house.
Incredible strength
Have you ever witnessed an orange barred sulphur create its chrysalis?
I am happy to say I finally was able to witness the transformation, not once, but twice on the same day. I always take one last peek into the butterfly house after I walk my dog the final time at night. Well, it completely paid off this time! I always wondered when the magic happened as the last peek at night the caterpillars were still hanging by their silk girdle, and the morning the gorgeous green, sometimes pinkish, chrysalis would be complete.
I have to say the silk girdle is no joke. It has incredible strength as the caterpillar moved in all directions possible as the chrysalis slowly spread the length of the caterpillar’s body. The first chrysalis I recorded, and the second one I captured through photographs. In a matter of minutes the chrysalis was complete. I of course stopped taking pictures as the wiggling slowed, so in this series I do not have a photograph of what the final chrysalis looks like.
It just goes to show what you can witness when you slow down enough . . . nature is incredible.
A favorite
The orange barred sulphur caterpillars are so hard to spot in the Bahama Cassia tree. They really blend in with the leaves, so often times I don’t see them until they have reached the last instar.
Brilliant sulphur
The sulphur butterflies are truly among some of my favorite butterflies. Their brilliant yellow is pure sunshine fluttering about the garden. This one emerged in our butterfly house today. Once it fluttered off my hand I was mesmerized by the orange on its wings.
