I just Googled the other one Dave and they are very similar. Could have fooled me on some of the pictures!
Well, I had a very weird day at MOSI. Mostly, the butterflies were being weird. We have a Cassia alata (Candle Tree) in the flight cage and it's blooming. I found one of those yellow form Cloudless Sulphur cats on it and a Sleepy Orange so that was cool. But later on I was looking at it and noticed an egg. A Giant Swallowtail egg! And my trainee and I started looking and they were everywhere! And I found about six just-hatched caterpillars that were clearly Giant Swallowtails. Now why would it lay eggs on a Cassia? Confused? Smell receptors not working? Butterfly insanity? I have NO IDEA! I Googled it but couldn't find anyone mentioning this happening to them. (Unlike the time when someone else did have a Long-Tailed Skipper lay on their Wooly Pipevine like I did.) I sent a message to my boss to ask her if she's aware of this phenomenon and to check the plant again tomorrow because I was getting dizzy and didn't check the higher leaves. So bizarre!
And then, we had a tank of Orange-Barred Sulphurs that were eating the Cassia alata. I found a cat today so I went to add him to the tank. But all the caterpillars were dead - and I mean about 10-12 caterpillars! Oddly enough, I found two Sleepy Oranges in the tank that were fine. So I started a new tank with a different kind of cassia and put the sulphurs in there instead. It was a weird day.
But an exciting one, too because we have Atalas again! Here's a picture of the pop-up with their chrysalises and the adults waiting to get out. I was waiting for my trainee to come so she could release them with me.
And here's some pictures of them.
Sitting on its host plant (coontie) but not laying eggs. They lay on the underside, FYI.
The Hickory-Horned Devils (Regal Moths) are getting big and scary-looking! They really don't like to let go of their plant so I had to pick the stem he was on. They're worse than sulphurs and they're already really strong so I hate to think what they'll be like full grown.
Everybody hangs out in the corner because that's where the sun comes up in the morning.
Bad anoles eating lunch. Boo!
Malachites are still around. They kept landing on my face this afternoon. I also got to replace their rotting fruit which was not my favorite job today. We're feeding them banana and mango.
Still lots of Black STs.
And Monarchs.
And we have lots of Giant STs right now.
Always the Zebra Longwings.
Cloudless Sulphur
Orange-Barred Sulphur
Spicebush Swallowtail
Buckeye bothering the Giant ST on the right.
Little skipper we saw outside in the garden.
And in case I haven't made it clear enough for everyone, the butterflies decided to help me by being educational today. Pipevine ST eggs are the orange-red ones, Polydamas are the yellow ones. No, they don't normally do this. I'm not quite sure what the second one there was thinking.
And here's the Sleepy Orange caterpillar I found. They really are as soft as they look.
Back at the house, I took some pictures last night. Here's some Pipevine ST cats enjoying stem.
This morning, one of my Viceroys was officially in his J. I had to tape him up, though to keep him away from the others.
And I had a Polydamas that was clearly going to come out soon.
And it was out when I came home and ready to fly. I knew as soon as I opened the lid it would be gone so this is all you get.
