Well, I have pictures from yesterday and today so this might be a long post. So settle in and get comfy!
Polydamas are gregarious in their early stages but they also like to crawl on each other even as they get bigger. Case in point - this picture. It was too funny; I had to take a photo. Judging by the partial stinkhorns, I don't think the one is enjoying it. And just in case we have any newbies lurking - no, caterpillars cannot have sex.
I was nice and cleaned their tank and gave them fresh food. As you can see, they were all lined up against the side. I had nightmarish visions of them all gut purging in one coordinated act, but when I put the food in they quickly dispersed and went back to eating thank goodness.
Meanwhile, the little Polydamas are eating and growing. And I found three more clutches of eggs today. Some may have to be donated to MOSI. Polys just eat too much.
Today, I went out to pick some willow for the Viceroys (more on that in a minute). There are so many Duskywings and Long-Tailed Skippers outside my house and they seem to be flying around and having some kind of war over who controls the nectar. But I managed to get a few to sit still. Here's a Duskywing.
And here's a Long-Tailed Skipper.
Mom was outside with me and as she moved around she scared up a Red-Banded Hairstreak! I see the Gray Hairstreaks more often, but I did have a Red-Banded sighting last year. Very exciting to see one again. Hairstreaks are so cool. I love the way they rub their wings back and forth while they sit.
We walked over to the shade house to see my orchid that just bloomed but on the way is the butterfly garden and as we approached I yelled, "Swallowtail!" Because there was a Pipevine ST on the pentas. Swallowtails LOVE pentas. Now, Swallowtails nearly always flutter their wings as they nectar, but by some miracle this one stopped and posed perfectly for me. And as you can see, this is a female because she doesn't have the irridescent blue scales near the bottom of her wings like the males do. I'll have to keep checking the pipevine for eggs but I didn't find any (but Polydamas) today.
I could hear thunder and Mom and I both felt a raindrop so I figured I better get moving. I had to go to Walgreens, but I took a detour to pick some willow one street over. Willow actually grows in the ditches along many streets in my neighborhood, but the one just south of me is safest because it's a small road with less traffic and there's a nice place to pull over in the grass. And there's a landscaping company right across the street so I suppose if I fell in the ditch there would be someone to hear me yell. Anyway, as I was picking the leaves I found four more Viceroy caterpillars (so I now have seven total)! And I took some pictures to show you what I look for. This rule pretty much applies for Red-Spotted Purples, too. But RSPs eat cherry in my area so different host plant. Look for leaves that are nothing but veins at the end. You might find a caterpillar hanging out on it!
But sometimes they wrap their bodies around the stems as they get bigger. I thought this guy was molting but he totally fooled me and is now wandering around eating. Since I got more cats I upgraded them to a larger tupperware dish.
Viceroys start out pretty small! Sorry you have to see my hands again, but if I don't use them as a background my camera will focus on the plants behind instead. But I can't blame it for not focusing on a tiny leaf vein with a tiny caterpillar on it.
In this picture, you can see the caterpillar has put up what I call a "blockade" between the leaf and the rest of the vein where he rests. I think they silk this together because he can't eat the leaf and make it look like that. This also deters predators from coming all the way down the vein to where the caterpillar lives.
And once I pulled in the driveway this Gulf Frit was on the jatropha. I took this picture while sitting in my car; that's how close I park to my plants.
That's it for pictures, but in good news this crop of Pipevine ST cats seems to be growing much faster than the others. They were really slow and worried me so maybe this bunch is healthier. They certainly have a good appetite. Yesterday, I bumped them up from one leaf to two leaves a day but when I did my caterpillar bed check at 10pm they were out of food! So yes, I went outside at 10pm and picked two big leaves. But now they're all molting so no one is eating anyway! However, the second crop of eggs has hatched so I have little baby cats in there, too. I angled the food near them so hopefully, they'll climb aboard.
Look forward to tomorrow and pictures from MOSI. My boss posted a photo of the Hickory-Horned Devil cats (Regal Moths) and they are getting freaky-looking!
