mellielong's Daily Pictures # 104

Well here's another re-start thread

Came here from

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1324957/

This message was edited Sep 1, 2013 2:50 PM

Thanks Ju for the new thread. I currently have 3 Tersa Sphinx cacoons, one eclosed this evening and it was released. I raised 7 off these, released them all into my Pentas shrubs when I went off on vacation. When I returned, 4 of the 7 had pupated, I kept them in a pavilon on the back porch out from direct sun light. One off to freedom, 3 more to go. ^_^

I believe these are Silvery Checkerspot , Because they like the Rudbeckia and Sunflowers
#3 the better pic

Not a Checkerspot, but a Pearl Crescent. The hind wing has very defined crescents along the marginal band.

http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Phyciodes-tharos

http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Chlosyne-nycteis

They look very similar.

Truthfully that keeps happening because I have both , I took that real early with the fog keeping them from flying and keeping me from thinking real clear .
I did see a new hatched Red Admiral and a BST yesterday along with the usual .
Those Checkerspot and Crescent BF's are always at the BES and zinnia

After all that the best thing is ; The pic was clear enough to ID LOL ^_^

I keep saying Checkerspot because of cats on Rudbeckia (BES) and Sunflowers

This message was edited Sep 5, 2013 9:06 AM

Pearl Crescent cats would be on asters. I read that they don't like the flashy named cultivars, such as Purple Dome and Crimson Brocade, but prefer native asters like white wood aster, Eurybia divaricata. I've never seen a Pearl Crescent cat. No wild asters in the woods near me.... just lots of spicebush and Spicebush Swallowtails!

I have three kinds of wild Aster here , They all look like willow aster , the little white bloom , roadside ditch looking plant ,
I say their Wilow Aster and most of them are , some have a slight variation in their leaf .At the moment one of them is covering my Spicebush , I suppose I ill find out later if that is good or bad ,
Still no , as to anything and the Milkweed as far as cats this season . I love my native weeds , the smaller BF's seem to also .
The little triange shaped BF with a pink -red dot at the large part of the triange on each wing with dark brown wings hatching out of the stinging nettle I am still wondering about , Sometime I may be able to get a pic , I have never seen one before this season . Half a century of never seeing something is a while for something to get past you . lol

Here is a picture of a Silvery Checkerspot that I raised, I didn't try the whole group..hehe. They were using Frostweed here.

Congrats on your success raising those Silvery Checkerspot beauties Sheila!

Thanks Lily. I simply loved the chrysalis it was so unique!

Yes, very unique indeed! Not the usual shape as we see with other species such as the Gulf frits and similar chrysalid.

This year, I'm having a lot of lucks raising Tersa sphinx moths. Here are a couple of those cuties just before they pupate.

That's great , there !!! Lots of little BF's playing in the garden this time of year , The one's about a 1/4 that size are just to small for me to pic , Little yellows and oranges of all kinds.

Once again , Great pic's !!!

I started my butterfly garden last year and this year I've had numerous lep visitors but two of my most interesting have been moths. The woodland Ruellia is the host plant for a unique moth called Tripudia rectagula which is triangular in shape with a rectangle spot on its back. But the most interesting to me is a mosquito size reddish orange moth whose host plant is Four o'clocks. This micro moth is called Aetole tripunctella for the three silver spots on each side. In order to keep its name simple and easy to remember, I've nicknamed it the "Crusader". Although they are difficult to see, they are beautiful and unusual.

Russell, those are very interesting moths!

Yes they are !!! interesting I don't know much about them , more to learn!!!

Got this a few minutes ago , watering plants for lunch ,
Small...... but ......... Giant Swallowtail ... it is ..lol

Or is it a Spicebush SWT ? Not many here ..

This message was edited Sep 9, 2013 12:09 PM

Ju, I can't offer a definite answer to your question for I'm still struggling to differentiate those various swallowtails. I know it isn't a Red-spotted Purple ST. because here is one;

I get a red spotted purple flying through every once in a while , the fruit trees bring them ,One season I even saw one chewing on a damaged Tomato ,
Nice pic , That's A pretty BF for sure !

Not a Giant Swallowtail, they have a stripe across the forewings. And more yellow thorax, as well as yellow underneath.

That's a black swallowtail in my opinion.

Sheila, that's quite the cluster of checkerspot cats!! Love that you raised that one. What where they hosting on.

I agree with Mrs. Ed, that's a black swallowtail.... a male because they have a lot of yellow on black.

I can't find a photo of a black swallowtail male in my files for 2013, although I've seen them in my garden. Here is a spicebush swallowtail near my home. The spicebush has pale blue crescents on the hind wing margin. The black swallowtail"s crescents are white if female, yellow if male. Black swallowtails also have a black dot in the eyespots where the the hind wings meet.

Here's a boy, and then a girl BST.

Thank you ,, nice pic's too ,
Lot's of Swallowtails , gets difficult to keep track or remember .
I am getting so few larger BF's I am smiling to see Cabbage White , and overwhelmed by the large Yellow Sulpher and Red Admirals
With the latter I had to put a half dozen chrysalis back in the Nettle patch last evening while collecting tea leaves. Not that many I see hatch ,(about one every two weeks )
I did see one Buckeye BF so far , Last year and before there were so many had you squint to protect your face walking through the garden , 100's maybe 1,000's they were .

@juhur7.. Yep BST in your pic. We get lots of those and the Giants down here; GST have a chevron of yellow on the dorsal side. I personally haven't seen a Spicebush but there are a few around.
When you say nettle patch, is that false nettle? If so, does it set seeds? I don't have that host plant. I would love to talk you into throwing a few seeds my way.

@ Mrs Ed.. That was Frostweed they were on. They pretty much demolished that plant, but I have a yard full of them and it was the only one eggs were on I guess. I love to have plenty for the Monarch in the fall. Anyone want Frostweed seeds?

Sheila_FW I don't think my false nettle lived , I don't even know if I still have seeds for it , While I'm organizing I will see what is there .
Your ? , Stinging Nettle , I am kind of still big on weeds . I doubt you want this , although there are some that do .
I would imagine where you are? , You could think of it as Stinging Kudzu .
I grow my own tea leaves . Have to share with BF's.

Lots of activity on the Passiflora now with Gulf Fritillaries and various Heliconia. Here is a Juno Heliconian (Dione Juno) who nectared at the Cosmos for a very long time. :)

Ooo wow, virtsna, she's lovely.

Still no Monarchs here, but the random odd visitor. I have 16 BST chrysalises. I wonder if they will over winter? Our overnights are getting to 60s in a few days 50.

Very slow year even for common moths and skippers. So I have to get it where I can. I have a tomato hornworm in one of my flight cages. I would never kill one, saw my first here in NC in 1999 after hurricane Fran? It came stomping thru my yard looking for food. I had a small yard (think condo) and it took him no time to decide there wasn't anything to eat and March on. It had to be 6" long. I was smitten. :)

Also have some small black cats with a yellowish stripe either side lengthwise on my castor bean. As it's poisonous, I have been curious but not able to ID.

Keep those pics coming. Thanks.

Last weekend was the 1st time I discovered these little Monarch cats. in the garden. They're becoming bigger every day. Most of them are in a safe place. This one some how has escaped my search. But, it's a beautiful sight to see in the early morning.

Lovely pic of the Julia vitrsna. Great to see the Monarch cats doing well Lily.

Thanks Sheila, but it's a Juno not a Julia :)

i'm sorry I did not get a picture of this as I was not prepared, but my BST eclosed today. Holy cow! I thought it was going to overwinter! It was a healthy male.

Congrats on your BST eclosure, today. Mrs. Ed. Sorry you didn't have a picture to share. But it's a male, it's a male yeah!

It's odd, I haven't seen one, not one BST around here this year. Nor have I seen Monarch, however, I've Monarch larvae (Monarch must have visited when I was away). Yeah, this evening I was rewarded with one more, after 2 dozen that I've collected and protected from those wild predators outdoor.

Here is another one, I'd say it's about the size of a 3rd instar? I can't hardly wait to see one transforms into a chrysalis.

I a little jealous , no cats hardly at all this year ,
I did see the BF that's all camoflage brown under , bright orange above , with a few darker spots above , and the half moon in it's wing you can see though , (sunflowers)
couldn't get a pic , but it's fun to see anyway .
I could read their names a100 times but if I don't see them all the time I forget , memory has already gone ,
But I enjoy anyway .. lol
I believe it was the Eastern Comma , to keep from being to silly ..


This message was edited Sep 12, 2013 8:26 PM

This message was edited Sep 13, 2013 6:12 PM

Here is a Bordered Patch (Chlosyne lacinia) on the Cosmos. There was a mating pair but i need to do a little research before i know which is the boy and which is the girl (my Guide is not telling me this information). Also, a variety of Skippers, Sulphurs, Heliconia, and Queens...all on the Cosmos. Sun came out after a heavy rain and i was sure happy to be able to feed all those hungry butterflies.

vitrsna....Oops sorry! I am guilty of not reading only scanning the pictures. Pluse the tropical ones trick me up. Great shot anyway.

Hi everyone - it was a good day for butterflies in Atlanta - pictures didn't come out very well with the phone camera - I'd love some opinions on the black butterfly - was it a female morph black swallowtail or have I finally viewed one of the elusive pipevines? I saw 2 - one on tree and one "puddling" and seemed to be different from female black morph. Also a gulf frit and not sure the name of the bright yellow one... definitely planting more lantana next year.

Initial three pics are a Red Spotted Purple and the fourth is a Sleepy Orange sulphur.

Thanks shorthog! I've not seen either before, very fun to see new visitors.

Posted these next door, hope you don't mind. My first Monarch sighting of the season, a female, laying eggs on A. curassavica I have in pots in the driveway.

I'm really excited about this. Yesterday I saw a new species of butterfly. I had my guide book "Butterflies through Binoculars" with me but I had just put my camera away. (No photo, darn.) I saw a Tawny Emperor! First time ever.... I gotta get out more.

Since I didn't post any photos of my Sleepy Orange cats before, I'll do that now. It's from five or six weeks ago.... don't have cats on my Senna marilandica today, but I saw another adult.

2gardenkate - awesome to see a new species! So fun. AmandaEsq - are you going to raise the Monarch eggs indoors or let nature take its course? We released a new baby monarch today, and I got a better shot of the red spotted purple - ok, going elementary school - anyone want to guess what the red spotted purple was munching on (yes, it's gross)?!