Butterflies and predators - photo doc

Chris - Your photo of the Robber Fly is freaky!!! Eeeewwwwwwwwwwww! I got chills up and down my spine just looking at that photo! Ack!!!

I, too, hate to see the butterflies trapped and killed. I was watching a lone Queen today flying near the ground in my garden beds. I watched her for the longest time worried that she would get eaten by a anole or lizard or trapped in a spider web. I was ready to go out and rescue her if she did. But she knew what she was doing. She was flying low because we had so much wind today.

I see the White Peacock butterflies all the time flying high and low in my garden. They seem to be fearless and go everywhere! :-) And if I am watering the beds in the evening, they get real mad at me for disturbing their resting place. LOL!

Great thread, Cat! Much as I hate to see some of these photos .... it's true ... the circle of life.

Another bug having a go at a skipper.

~ Cat

...another angle.

~ Cat

ewww, I dont like seeing that. I know it happens I just dont like catching them in the act.

chris

I dont know what this is yet but he has that long thing for stabbing. And he was really big! Like 1" long

Oh no, not a Brazilian Skipper!

Here is a page from a book with a butterfly gardeners worst enemies..
They are so sneaky and tiny you don't know the cat.bfly is effected until they are supposed to eclose.
You don't get a butterfly... you get more of the tiny predators you raised instead. Very disheartening!!

debnes

This is the text page that goes with the pictures. I hope you all can read it.. I will scan it later if I need to.

debnes

Great info Deb!!!

I got freaked out the first time I saw a predator come out of a chrysalis that I'd watched over since it was an egg! I'd collected eggs from my larval host plants and carefully watched the caterpillars hatch and grow and grow and then they finally went into the chrysalis stage. Next thing I knew there was a wasp flying around inside the cat box that I had my chrysalids in!!! I found the chrysalis it had emerged from and did asked around about how that could happen. That's when I found out there are predators that lay their eggs inside the eggs laid by a butterfly and they continue to grow as the caterpillar grows - an we are none the wiser until it pupates and a dratted bug emerges instead! UGH!!!

~ Cat

Oh I know what you mean all too well sis! It knocks the wind out of ya to see it for real!

I checked out this great book at the library :
"The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs Garden Insects of North America" by Whitney Cranshaw
It has over 600 pages like the above with all the insects and moths of NA. The list price for the hardback is around 99.00. Even Amazon wants at least that for the hardback, but it is very heavy!

I checked online and found it at Target for 19.77 in paperback!
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/602-8342840-0255861?asin=0691095612&afid=yahoosspplp_bmvd&lnm=0691095612|Garden_Insects_of_North_America:_The_Ultimate_Guide_to_Backyard_Bugs_(Princeton_Field_Guides)_:_Books&ref=tgt_adv_XSNG1060
I have one on the way to me!! yaay!

I love this book... It is the perfect accompaniment to the butterfly books I have that don't include moths.

This new book has all the moths and all the bugs too, perfect!

debnes

Mom got it for me for Christmas last year. love it!

Yes Mel, A must have for the DG bug filer. Your mom is way thoughtful!!


I got another cool book at half price books the other day for 12.48.
It's Butterfly Gardening for the South (Cultivating Plants that Attract Butterflies" by Geyata Ajilvsgi

It has great information on all the host plants with excellent pictures. Even though it is mainly for the South, at least half or more of the BFlies travel up north too.

I could only find one place that carries it online, Monarch watch,, and they are out of stock. Definitely one for the wish list though
http://shop.monarchwatch.org/product.aspx?c=cg_gardening_butterfly_gardening(base)&p=105242(base)

debnes

I bought "Butterfly Gardening ..." a few years ago, and just love it. That book will tell you everything you need to know and then some. I lost hours and hours in it last winter, daydreaming about what I was going to plant come springtime.

Carla

Heh heh...I have both of those books too. Even forgot I had Geyata Ajilvsgi's book and ended up ordering another copy last year...but I gave it to a fellow butterflier. Both are great books.

Love that insect book...very good reading and photos. So many bugs!!!

~ Cat

I thought that this outside chrysalis was taking an awfully long time to eclose, I thought maybe because it had gotten a few very cold nights. After feeling in and realizing it was so soft it popped right open revealing the problem. I dont know what kind of predator got it but this is what it looked like.

Problem has been diagnosed as wasp larva infection.
CAUTION; GROSS PICTURE!

Not sure what kind of spider this is, but the web came from the lower leaves of my Oak tree down to the ground. It was HUGE!!! Looking for night bugs for dinner! Yum, yum! LOL!

I actually ran into this web at one point. I was jumping around and trying to knock of anything possibly on me! Y I K E S !!!!

That is sure one scary looking spider. I turn into an arachnidiot when I run into a spiderweb. Yep, I'm yelling and screaming, jumping and waving my hands around with chills running up and down my spine!!! EEEEEK!!!

Was at the park today and photographed this robber fly with a blue damselfly in it's clutches.

~ Cat

This seemed to be the day of doom for Pipevine Swallowtails. Here's a crab spider with one. Much as I hate to see butterflies becoming dinner for a spider I am always intrigued when I see a little spider bring down a big butterfly.

~ Cat

This message was edited Sep 14, 2008 6:38 PM

Another from today - Green Linx Spider and Pipevine Swallowtail.

~ Cat

What a bummer Cat! I have only seen 1 or 2 PvST this whole year... I still maintain that it's due to 'overkill' measures taken for web worms last year. I have not seen any of the green linx spider here, but they could be camouflaged within all the green. Thanks for your continued posts and super great pics!

Debnes

Chris lcf530 that is a Wheel Bug. Don't touch it, it bites really bad. They eat cats, and they are a member of the Assasin Bugs family and are beneficial. I was afraid I would get bitten so I put it in my framed collection. I found it on my Morning Glories.