I found this caterpillar of a moth or butterfly in my garden in Colima, Mexico so I am assuming it is neotropical/tropical. It is 3.5 inches long (9 cm). I searched forked-tailed caterpillars but was not successful. There are some Satyr caterpillars that have forked-tails but all the ones I found are much, much smaller than this one. Any ideas?
Likely Opsiphanes tamarindi in the family Nymphalidae -
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1319/1108467004_ef015a75a2.jpg
Thank you Flapdoodle! It looks like it could very well be an O. tamarindi. I have had O. boisduvalii also in the garden but never saw the caterpillar or the chrysalis although I'm sure it grew up in the Palms. I saw many photos of O. tamarindi caterpillars but did not find any of the O. boisduvalii. Do you think it might possibly be a boisduvalii? At any rate, I think i will eventually find out because now it is starting to pupate and has moved to the areca palm next to the wall, is very well camouflaged, and now I think it will stay put. How exciting! I'm happy that i was able to get a better caterpillar photo than the one posted here. Appreciatively, vitrsna
Good question. I've never seen an image of a caterpillar of Opsiphanes boisduvalii.
Well, I was trying to decide if we should mark this as "solved". What do you think? I am thinking i would like to keep the conversation open until we see the chrysalis, and also hopefully, an eclosed butterfly. One of the O. tamarindi caterpillars I saw was a dead ringer for the one in my garden. The reason I hesitate is that there are sooooo many photos and images on the internet that are clearly not correctly identified. So, unless I can come up with a credible image of an O. boisduvalii caterpillar, I'd like to keep this thread open until hopefully I will be able to id and photo the eclosed butterfly. What do you think?
Always best to be cautious - I've often been hoist on my own petard when I was 'sure' I knew something...
Try this one. O boisduvalii
http://butterfliesofamerica.com/opsiphanes_boisduvallii_immatures.htm
and a close up of O tamarindi
http://butterfliesofamerica.com/opsiphanes_t_tamarindi_immatures.htm
Thank you moon...BOA is usually the first place I look for images but for some reason I did not find the O. boisduvalii photo, so thank you very much. The pillar I have is similar but has a singular orange stripe. The differences between OB and OT and my pillar could be an instar thing though so right now, I am thinking it could be either one. If the pillar is successful in the pupa stage and encloses, and if i am around to see the butterfly, then I will know for sure. I don't know how I can be certain before then. Any ideas?
I ran across this list of Opsiphanes species in Mexico perhaps you may find that your caterpillar is one of them rather than O boisduvallii
Owl Butterflies and Morphos subfamily Morphinae
Caligo telamonius memnon, Yellow-fronted Owl-Butterfly
Caligo uranus, Yellow-bordered Owl-Butterfly
Opsiphanes boisduvalii, Orange Owlet
Opsiphanes cassina, Split-banded Owlet
Opsiphanes invirae, Lowland Owlet
Opsiphanes tamarindi, Heliconia Owlet
Morpho helenor, Common Morpho
Gee, and I thought i had it down to two (either boisduvalii and tamarindi) :-D but there are two or three others on your list that are real possibilities (like O. cassina) and i will take a look to see what i come up with. I appreciate the info moon, thank you.
You are most welcome Vitrsna....I hope you get to see chrysalis open.
Greetings Moon and Flap...i thought i would provide an update. attached is a better photo of the Opsiphanes (sp?) caterpillar, the last instar as a caterpillar just before pupation. the next photo is of the pupa, and the third photo is of the chrysalis with the discarded skin still attached to the top (sometimes it falls off and sometimes not).
you might notice that the pupa is on an areca palm and the chrysalis is still attached to the palm frond but detached from the tree and in some kind of building (which is actually my house).
i checked on the pupa a couple of days ago and there was a "beneficial" predatory wasp attached to the pupa. i immediately pinched off the wasp without damage to the pupa, but there is no telling if the pupa has been infected with wasp larva. there were 3 or 4 other wasps waiting for their turn at this pillar. it is not my habit to bring pupas into the house (as many people do), but i knew that this pupa was history if i did not do something quickly. so i cut the frond with the pupa on it and brought it into the house. i am not familiar with this caterpillar and its cycle here and so do not know when to expect eclosure but the chrysalis will become transparent before the butterfly emerges so that i will be able to return it to the garden and a natural habitat before it ecloses (if it does). So far the chrysalis appears healthy but that could change in a day. At any rate, I’ll post a photo of the butterfly here if I should be so lucky.
The wasps may be why you aren't familiar with the butterfly....Glad you brought it in. Fingers crossed for a lovely butterfly.
thanks moon for your good wishes. i have seen some Opsiphanes butterflies that i thought had come from the palms in my garden, but have not seen any signs of caterpillars, pupas, chrysalises until now. i have 2 palms side by side and the leaves are narrow and long and it is very dense...and i now know the caterpillars are very good at concealing themselves and the parasitic wasps are very good at finding them. i know now that the caterpillars start eating at the end of a leaf (the leaves are pointed). they eat until the leaves and their bodies are the same length and then start on a new leaf. i have noticed fans of leaves that look like they have been blunt cut by scissors and now i know it was probably done by an Opsiphanes caterpillar. as a result, i expect that the eggs are placed on the underside of the end of a leaf. so now i have an idea of where to look for new life. and now i will think to look for parasitic wasps poking around these plants. to control the parasitic wasps who regularly patrol the host plants for some of the larger caterpillars like monarchs and various swallowtails, i catch them in jars (actually quite a lot of them from the very tiny parasitic ones to the 2" long brown predatory wasps). this keeps the populations down sufficiently to enable some caterpillars to survive to butterflyhood. also now i know that Opsiphanes butterflies eat overly ripe fruit, sometimes dung or tree sap, but rarely flower nectar. so now i know to make overly ripened bananas and some citrus fruits available to them. i am hoping to create recurring communities of these butterflies in the garden to add to the current "regulars" and the information you have provided has helped me in this effort. if there are any seeds (assuming you are a gardener) i can send you from this area, let me know, appreciatively, vitrsna
You are very welcome vitrsna, and I appreciate your kind offer. at this moment there is nothing I can think of, but will certainly remember your offer. I have enjoyed learning about the Opsiphanes and hope you will keep us up on the progress and outcome.....they say curiosity got the cat and I am "meowing"....grin
yes, i will post to this thread the outcome of our curiosities. in the meantime, here is a utube video (time lapsed and very short) you might enjoy of an Opsiphanes boisduvalii (commonly know as Orange Owlet) emerging from its chrysalis. as i say, it is time lapsed...the process in real life takes much longer...to emerge and to have the wings unfurled and to have the meconium discharged (which you see in the video) could be anywhere between 1/2 hour to 2 hours. for butterflies of this size, it could be 2 hours before they take a first flight. they need to hang with their wings down long enough for the fluid in the abdomen to run into the veins of the wings to make them strong enough for flight. frequently after the first flight they will hang around for awhile resting unless there are predators near.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCfYhxAHeGY
Isn't Nature fascinating? And time-lapse photography is always amazing. Fingers crossed that you have the same scene many times over in your garden.
This happens practically every day in the garden. I've been watching Monarchs, Queens, Polyldamas Swallowtails, Giant Swallowtails, and Black Swallowtails and various other butterflies go from eggs to caterpillars to pupa to butterflies for the past 4 years...hundreds of times...and it is still fascinating, and i still hold my breath. Various small groups of children ages 4 - 6 come from time to time for this experience (and some adults too) and i love sharing the experience with them. The children are so smart and ask some really sophisticated questions. I am just hoping i can create an environment for the Opsiphanes to be successful here and i have a host plant growing now to attract some Sulphur butterflies too. Gardening is so full of magic and surprises, yes?
Absolutely yes, few places create the sense of wonder and delight a garden can.
Greetings Moon and Flap and everyone else...this beauty eclosed this morning (April 11th) after 15 days in its chrysalis...i was overwhelmed, given the history. Here is a photo of the butterfly. The caterpillar is Opsiphanes boisduvalii (Orange Owlet). I didn't get a photo of the outer wings, but i did get a peek and the wings are light orange with no stripes (which is one way to distinguish it from the O. tamarindi) and a black dot and a smaller white dot on the uppermost part of each wing. I was happy to see such a strong and healthy butterfly. I am leaving some juicy pieces of orange out if she/he should return to the garden. I hope it is a female. I hope she comes back with some eggs. I hope she or he likes the orange. Thanks for your help. :-D
That is a lovely butterfly. neat picture...
I think they are secondarily attracted to the fruit, but the flower is the main draw, at least here with the Giant Swallowtail. They are a large part of why we have citrus trees.
http://www.butterflyfunfacts.com/giant.php
This butterfly prefers fruit. they will also enjoy some poop from time to time and rotten meat. Only occasionally will they nectar from flowers. They have a very short "tongue" (or maybe you call it proboscis but i've been informed that "tongue" is the correct scientific terminology) which is not too useful for getting nectar from flowers. often they will lay eggs on banana palms...they love some good rotten, juicy bananas. The Opsiphanes have a different physiology and are not similar to Swallowtails. There are a variety of butterflies that do not nectar on flowers. The Malachite, for example, prefers rotting meat.
I know that Giant Swallowtails use citrus as a host plant (including rue which is a member of the citrus family), but had no idea that they drink the juice of the fruit. I have only seen the Giant Swallowtails taking nectar from flowers.
It is not their regular or preferred food, but I have seen them on the over ripe oranges we put out for the birds. We have a native sweet orange, a Moro blood orange, and two kumquats for their nectar dining enjoyment.
is that Opsiphanes boisduvalii? Maybe this is the difference between the tropical Opsiphanes and the more northern ones. Here the preferred food is fruit, but only for some types of butterflies. Here the Giant Swallowtails nectar from flowers.
Sorry for the confusion. I did not know that the Opsiphanes enjoyed fruit rather than nectar....The Giant Swallowtails here feed on the blooms of the citrus in my yard, but on occasion, i have seen the Swallowtails sitting on the over ripe orange pieces we put out for the birds.
No problem Moon...Opsiphanes and Giant Swallowtails are from entirely different families so i wasn't sure if you were talking about Opsiphanes or Swallowtails. The Giant Swallowtails are magnificent butterflies. I have them here too and have a lime tree and also rue as host plants for them. It is very interesting to me that they find fruit a food choice and i will offer some next time they show up. :-D
what a fascinating thread.
thank you so very much for the information and the pure enjoyment of this small but meaningful glimpse of nature.
thank you track...i'm glad you enjoyed it and i appreciate your perspective. for me, there is no life too small...and there is so much love in the process.
