Tag Archives: red penta

The sun has returned

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We sure are spoiled here in Southwest Florida with constant sunshine. When the sun disappears, and the temps dip, the butterflies do not visit our garden. I am happy to say the weather has been stunning the last few days and there has been an abundance of monarch butterflies landing on our pentas for a sip to drink. At one time I counted seven. I love seeing them all year round.

I read that when temperatures dip below 55 degrees it causes butterflies to shut down while they patiently wait for warmer weather. While it is cold they will hang dormant until the sun returns. With the warmth of the sun, they will absorb the solar radiation to expand their wings open and closed. The solar radiation can raise their body temperature higher than the air temperature. I found it super interesting that the butterfly can “shiver” its body temperature up a few degrees. When their body temperature reaches 80 degrees its ready for flight.

Welcome back butterflies. The monarch and gulf fritillary butterflies have been constant visitors since around 9 a.m.

A nectar stop

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The orange beauty, the gulf fritillary stopped by for some nectar from our red penta, and deposited some eggs on our maypop passion vine, which is popping up all over our garden.

The fritillary is a common butterfly among the extreme southern parts of the United States. They are one of abundance in Southwest Florida, especially when the gardens have their host plant, the corky stem passion vine and the maypop passion vine. They love the pentas, lantana and blue porterweed nectar flowers, I have witnessed.

The gulf fritillary is among the Nymphalidae family, Heliconiinae subfamily and the Agraulis vanillae genus species. In addition, they are among the “brush-footed” butterfly family.

The medium sized butterfly has elongated forewings, with a wingspan expanding between 65 and 95 millimeters long. As mentioned previously the females are larger in size, darker in color, and have more extensive markings.

Another fun fact, the gulf fritillary has the capability of releasing chemicals – an unpleasant odor – from their abdominal glands, which helps in preventing them becoming a snack to predators, such as birds. Those chemicals are consumed when they are caterpillars from their host plants.