One of my boss' friends at MOSI just shared this to her timeline on MOSI and I'm still laughing about it. Don't read if you're offended by strong language, but this is just too funny. And FYI, the part about the scientific study is true; I remember reading it in the news.

That really is fascinating though. Boggles the mind to think about it.

I guess I'm lucky that the guests tend to ask questions a little more precisely than that. But I am working on memorizing the phrase "stupid majestic little beast" for future use. Now where's my phone?

Omg I am screaming with laughter. BUT I just learned more, that there is a goo phase. This is amazing!
I'm going to go check my desktop for butterfly pictures. Thanks for your encouragement!

Wow! Fabulous Kabby! Thanks for sharing. I wish the last 2 were larger photos though. What are the butterflies in the 2nd photo? They're gorgeous!

Ann, those look like Pipevine Swallowtails to me.

I actually found out about the "goo" phase by scientific inquiry. Okay, I did something kind of dumb. Swallowtails (for the most part) overwinter in their chrysalis, making it in the fall but not emerging until spring. But sometimes you get some that come out early and some that decide they like it in there and just want to stay. Seriously, I once had a Zebra ST in a chrysalis for 13 months! And it came out perfectly fine! But before I knew they would occasionally go WACO (We Ain't Coming Out) on me, I thought the chrysalis was a dud. Now folks, unless the chrysalis turns black, smells funny, or has some other suspicious thing going on with it, it's probably fine. Leave it alone. However, I didn't know this. So I broke one open. It was a Zebra ST chrysalis - my favorite butterfly, and also the first species I raised in large batches. Inside, there was indeed a "goo". I hate to compare things to food, but you know when they have those Cadbury egg commercials on TV around Easter? That's kind of what it reminded me of. Thicker than a chicken egg, and kind of a pale yellow color. Certainly nothing that resembled a caterpillar or butterfly. I have since learned not to do that but it was rather educational.

Oh, and while I'm here - check this out! I wish I still lived in Philly (went to UPenn); I would totally walk next door to Drexel and see this! http://www.wdel.com/story.php?...

I'm not sure what to think of that. I understand the wanting to study it --- that's how we learn but seriously, do we have to immediately kill it? They were worried it would get killed in the exhibit ~~~ Okay, so dead is dead but at least it could live until it died. Maybe I'm missing something here but it seems odd to me.

Ann I don't know what any are, the first maybe a Gulf Frit? I know what y'all call sulfurs were all over this zinna bed last summer. So Pipevine for the second and ? for #3. I'm on a Kindle so I click on the photo and spread the pic larger.
Ann I just read the article, I know what you are talking about. That is sad.
Melanie can you show me a critter cage that you mentioned in the beginning of this thread?

The first is a painted lady & the 3rd is a pipevine swallowtail?

Ann, you are correct. And yeah, it sucks that they had to kill the butterfly but even at MOSI I was thinking we would have two options. Rear it inside in a mesh pop-up where it would have limited flying space and probably no ability to mate. Or, release it in the flight exhibit and possibly never be able to find it again. Or find it after the ants did their work on it. And our exhibit is pretty small; if they had a larger exhibit they run the risk of never finding it again. Also, even in ours the lizards might have eaten it first. It's kind of a no-win situation but at least this way it is preserved for everyone to learn from it.

Ok, I understand but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

No, it's not an ideal situation, but life rarely is. There are just so many things that could go wrong that I understand why they would want to preserve it. I'm just glad it was shipped as a chrysalis and emerged here. Can you imagine if a butterfly farm knew they had one of those? Do you know how much they would want for it? Not that I could blame them. And ultimately, the butterfly would probably meet the same fate.

I need to download my pictures from today and then I'll be posting away on here. I got some really good ones today and had a surprise butterfly sighting! Stay tuned for more...

Okay, time for my weekly "look what I did at the museum" post! I have to say, for January we are doing quite well! Some of that is in part due to our friend that has a butterfly farm out in Plant City. If you're not familiar with Plant City, it's the site of the annual Strawberry Festival every March and there's usually a lot of big name country singers. I don't care for strawberries or country music, so I've never been. But it's kind of a big deal around here.

So lots of variety including several Swallowtails that were making me scratch my head. This Polydamas let me pick it up!



Last weekend a whole pop-up full of Giant ST chrysalises appeared. I figured they came from the farm and I was kind of wondering why. I mean, they were just going to stay in their chrysalis all winter, right? Wrong! We have eight in the flight cage! We're trying to get them to breed, and normally they lay on our kumquat tree. But I didn't find any eggs. I did find some kind of mold or fungus and ants that seemed attracted to said mold or fungus. So I went out and cut some rue, put it in a container with water, and I'm hoping for the best. At least it gives them another option for a host plant.



We also had a mysterious Black Swallowtail in the flight cage. Oh, the boss replanted the flight cage on Wednesday so be sure to check out the awesome new flowers! Okay, not these pentas. Pentas are always there. But in other pictures.



But mostly the Swallowtails were hanging out in one corner like the cool kids. And the Zebra Longwing was trying to join their clique but they weren't having it. That's the Polydamas on top, the two Giants, and the Black ST being bothered by the Zebra.



I was beginning to wonder if the Swallowtails were actually going to eat anything when this Giant came down on the geranium. (The Black ST picture was taken later in the day and I never did see the Polydamas eat anything.) I guess he decided the Zebra Longwing could hang with the big boys because they were sharing nicely.



This Great Southern White probably also came from the butterfly farm. They vary in color quite a bit, with the females being more gray. But you can always tell them from other White species because they have turquoise antenna clubs! Seriously, how awesome is that?



We mostly have Julias in the flight cage right now. Tons and tons of Julias. FYI, the female is the one with the black band across the top of the wings. I just checked my book because I always forget.





And there's still quite a few Zebra Longwings.



And sometimes the Longwings like to hang out together, like this Julia and Zebra on lantana.



We've kept the Malachites going for a long time now!



And the Monarchs I brought in a few weeks ago are happily flying around now. Okay, looking at the pictures they're mostly just eating a lot.



We had one Cloudless Sulphur in the flight cage but I caught a couple more.



And we had a couple of Buckeyes! They were hiding; I didn't see them until I'd been there a couple hours. The color on this one is amazing!



But the real surprise happened outside! I saw a Hairstreak! I "think" this is the White M Hairstreak. I sent my photos to BAMONA so I should know in about two months. They take forever to get back to Florida people. When I post my butterflies from KY and WV, I usually hear back within a day. I suppose it's a supply and demand thing. I don't see this particular Hairstreak often enough to be sure so that's why I consulted the experts. I also posted it on our MOSI group on Facebook in case my boss wants to weigh in.



I caught a couple of Gulf Fritillaries outside since we didn't have any in the flight cage.



Inside the lab, the caterpillars I found last week turned out to be Orange-Barred Sulphurs! I was betting they were Cloudless, but they were too small to tell. I had to change the sign on the tank! But honestly, Orange-Barred Sulphurs in January? I blame global warming.



That's it for the museum. I'm going to post again to show you what I found at my house.

Okay, now back at my house. It's mostly a Monarch caterpillar thing going on. Now, I do have the advantage of living in a suburb that was long considered rural. There's like, cows down the road. It gets loud when they get in the mooood, if you know what I mean.

But I think butterflies aren't really bothered by infrastructure judging by the amount I used to see even when I worked downtown. So if you think you can't host butterflies because you live in the city, or you just have an apartment with a balcony, or whatever, I say, "Try it anyway!" I have host plants right up next to my house and the butterflies don't care! Honestly, I think it's safer because the birds don't tend to come close to the house. There's a reason I release my butterflies in the front. Mom found out the hard way why we don't release in the back when a bird attacked and killed a freshly released Monarch. But no bad times today! Here you can see a caterpillar right next to where I park my car.



And this is in the entryway! That blue and white is the front of my house.



And the Giant Milkweed is growing in front of the master bathroom - notice the glass block behind the molted caterpillar.



And this Gulf Frit was laying eggs on the passion vine on the side of the house. Sometimes, when Dad is doing his woodturning, butterflies fly into the garage. I think the smell emitted from the wood fools some of them into getting excited there's a host plant near.



I've been spotted!



Basking on the passion vine.



FYI, I also saw what I'm pretty sure was an Orange-Barred Sulphur flying around, but no pictures. No caterpillars though; I checked the Senna pretty good.

Thanks, Melanie...so beautiful! It's been dreary here and I needed something sunny and brightly colored to look at. Last time we had a warm, sunny day I only saw one sulfur...guess I was lucky to see even one butterfly!

What a plethora of flutter bys today Melanie and spectacular shots of them too. Thank you!

Just heard that the Feds are actually taking the first real step on the long road to protect the Monarchs. Will it come too late, be rejected outright (quite possible)? We'll just have to wait to see.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/l...

Here's hoping!