I'm loving all the photos, as usual!
Just a quick note for now...

Jim, I think that white creature may be:

Flatormenis proxima - Northern Flatid Planthopper
http://bugguide.net/node/view/...

Danita I think that is ,,,

mcash70 Your post made me reply here as above , love sharing the photo's

I am seeing smaller darker butterflies , no photo , I think their Duskywing , I will keep trying ,

Wrong thread for this , but since this particular post from me went Bugs anyway ,
Yellow Garden Spider , When I first saw this , it was finishing a Cabbage dinner ,, Cabbage White that is ,

I have 2 of those spiders near the back corner of my house Jim. They are called yellow & black striped garden spiders. Pretty neat looking aren't they? They get pretty big too!

Flaflwrgrl I am all okay with them , except when I walk through the front or back door , and they try the side to side web to try and catch me

I have been seeing a Red Spotted Purple off and on today . I did not get a photo , but it looked like it was laying eggs on my Black Cherry . I keep it pruned to five or six feet , this year all the new growth is chewed , I know it is asked not to photo hands and fingers here , but this was the only clear photo I could get , found this while looking for cats or butterfly eggs on the tree
Here are some leaves of the Black Cherry ,





Strange looking aphid

Jim, the whole hands and fingers rule pretty much only applies to pictures you submit to the Plant Database and even then, it's not completely forbidden. In this thread, I say do what you gotta do! You guys have seen my hands plenty of times. We take pictures of such small things that sometimes you have to use your hand as a background to get the camera to focus. Or someone wants to know the approximate size of something and so a hand is a good object for perspective. So no problems there!

Red Spotted Purples lay their eggs right on the tip of the leaf and I'm not exaggerating. Viceroys do the same thing. They sit backward on the leaf and position themselves right at the tip to lay the egg. So that's where to look for eggs. Then, they eat the leaf but leave the rib and the tip of the leaf. This makes a kind of "moat" to discourage predators. Let me see if I can find a picture...Okay here's a picture of an egg. See, not lying about it being right on the tip. I think they look like little disco balls.



Okay, I know I took more photos when I was raising Viceroys last year but I can't for the life of me find them. Here's one, though. Now, this is a Viceroy but they look and act just like the RSP. You can see on the left side is what was the tip of the leaf which he has eaten. They often attach leaf parts and frass as a blockade to discourage predators. That would be the round thing right behind the caterpillar. Then, they come out when they feel safe and eat leaves. But otherwise they hang out on the rib of the leaf they've eaten away.

Neat!

I took a nap this afternoon and I had several strange dreams. The last one before I woke up was about caterpillars. They were talking to me and asking me to feed them. I remember specifically the Polydamas being the loudest. Which is weird because I gave them two leaves today without realizing half of them were molting.

Speaking of Polydamas, I have more bad news. I've lost another and will probably lose a couple more. This post is going to be a little gross, so if you're sensitive, don't raise butterflies. Now, sometimes you guys have heard me talk about "melting disease" which is technically a virus with a big name. Gulf Frits get it horribly bad in these parts. I saw some earlier this year on my passiflora infected with it. It's one reason I don't generally raise them inside. Now, I'm pretty sure my Polydamas are infected and here's why. When they die, not only do the liquefy, they tend to hang by their prolegs, like this one was doing today.



Caterpillars are bendy, but that's not normal. For further reading, and some more photo examples, check this website: http://www.butterflyfunfacts.c...

Meanwhile, I was checking out this one caterpillar that was molting. Polydamas are good for photos because you can really see how the head capsule detaches. It looks like he has a "gap" between the head and body but it's actually detached from the body at this point.



Then, I look at the one next to him in the photo and see that he already molted. But something odd stuck out. He hadn't shed his head capsule and it was attached over the new head capsule! Knowing he would probably starve, I grabbed him and managed to crack the old head capsule. It was really stuck on there! I don't know if he's going to be okay or not. His new head capsule has a weird indentation in it from the old one. He's probably infected, too.

In sort of related news, we were watching this nature special on seahorses tonight, and I find whenever I watch nature shows, I compare everything to caterpillars. Like, 5% of seahorses born make it to adulthood so that's better than caterpillars at 1-2%. And this one seahorse evolved to blend in with a specific kind of coral and I was thinking how caterpillars have their own disguises. Not to mention moths that blend in better than any camouflage. Does anyone else do that when they watch nature shows or is it just me? The best part of the show was that part of it took place in Tampa Bay! I found a seahorse once with the Girl Scouts when we were at Upper Tampa Bay Preserve. It was awesome. I just love to watch other scientists get all excited about their thing and be able to relate to how it feels. Finding a new caterpillar or seeing it exhibit some kind of behavior you've never seen before - it's so cool.

Oh, I also have a new theory. You guys know I always have a theory. Polydamas are usually really hard to kill so I've been super bummed with this batch. The only difference I could think of is that I'm feeding them native, Wooly Pipevine instead of the tropical Dutchman's Pipevine that I pulled out early this year. FYI, I'm pretty sure it was giving me those allergic rashes, too. Now, I know Monarchs have been studied and will choose more "toxic" types of milkweeds when given a choice. The idea is that the higher the level of toxicity, the more it can protect the caterpillar from predators, but also bacteria, viruses, etc. Anything to make the body more inhospitable, I suppose. So I figure if I'm feeding Polydamas a less toxic version of the Pipevine they're used to in most of their range, maybe they're weaker from it? Just a theory I have right now. Or I could just have a raging case of that virus in my yard.

So I figure if I'm feeding Polydamas a less toxic version of the Pipevine they're used to in most of their range, maybe they're weaker from it?

A good possible deduction. It certainly bears thinking about or researching. Hummmmm..... could you do an experiment next time you find eggs -- split them equally -- 1/2 get Wooly & 1/2 Dutchman's (you would have to get some Dutchman's of course). ???????????

The museum has plenty of the tropical pipevine so obtaining it would not be a problem. They're always down for some caterpillar experimentation. They've been feeding various pipevines to the Pipevine ST cats to see what they survive best on. I guess I also have to take into account that I did not find these guys as eggs, but as (probably) second instar caterpillars. So who knows what they were exposed to before I found them. Still, it's a bummer when you lose a caterpillar. But like the link I posted said, you can't blame yourself when nature is working toward caterpillar control. After all, if every egg made it to adulthood, they would have already eaten all the host plants, thereby making themselves extinct.

mellielong said:But like the link I posted said, you can't blame yourself when nature is working toward caterpillar control. After all, if every egg made it to adulthood, they would have already eaten all the host plants, thereby making themselves extinct.

True. Nature does have a way of regulating itself.

And then too is the consideration that the smaller things evolve faster than larger things like humans. The insects evolve much faster. One has to ask the question of whether the native pipevine has been outnumbered by the tropical pipevine for some time now & the species have evolved to do better with the tropical version. Adjusting with the times so to speak. Evolution of the species.

All this rain is making me crazy but my Facebook feed is really amusing today so that's good. Here's one I hadn't seen before that I thought you guys would appreciate. Click to make it big so you can see the whole joke.

Interesting conversation you two had going there , Mellie and Ann ..
Great info on the Butterfly eggs and cats , I have never seen a Viceroy here ,,out of range I believe ,
Mellie I will use that info to look for RSP larvae , late now though , I believe those last two may have pupated here .

Hummingbird got away from my lense ,, this is still playing around this place , Seeing one to three Monarchs every day now , their moving back south ,

mellielong said:All this rain is making me crazy but my Facebook feed is really amusing today so that's good. Here's one I hadn't seen before that I thought you guys would appreciate. Click to make it big so you can see the whole joke.

That facebook from mellie I can't breathe ,,,

That facebook from mellie I can't breathe ,,,

Jim, I am "thoroughly modern", but you're going to have to start calling me Mellie. Or Melanie. Or just Mel. But not Millie.

Good Grief , ooops !!! Okay i e, Mellie