I went outside to pick Pipevine this morning and got a little distracted by the activity out there. I think I have an entire flock of Gulf Frits. They were all over the Mexican Flame Vine this morning.
This was the only Zebra Longwing shot I could get. They haven't been cooperative lately.
I saw something large and followed it over to neighbor Jim's house. It was a female Tiger ST! Now, at first it landed on his Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow plant which is somehow still blooming. Ours only blooms in the spring. Is it because his is in full sun? Is he doing something to make it bloom? Inquiring minds want to know. The Tiger ST also hit up his plumbagos because mine apparently aren't good enough.
Rarely do I see Cassius Blues holding still. But here you go.
And my Duskywings are still hanging out.
Back inside, where there is blessed air conditioning, the Queen went and made her chrysalis - on a Black ST chrysalis.
Now, I've been watching the Tiger ST cats and they're a lot of fun. We already discussed how they look kind of like Spicebush ST cats with their eyespots, but I've noticed a few more things about them. They also sometimes sit like Spicebush cats will, with the front of their body raised up. They also move in reverse like the Spicebush. Not quite as smoothly, though. You see, Spicebush build those leaf shelters and have perfected the art of moving straight backward to the edge of the leaf when they need to make frass. That ensures it falls to the ground and doesn't attract predators to the leaf shelter. Tiger ST cats aren't quite as good, but they can reverse pretty well.
But lately I've noticed they also remind me of Zebra ST cats, too. Sometimes they sit so they look humpbacked like the Zebra ST and they also have a cool stripe behind their head. So first, let's look at a Zebra ST caterpillar. This is a young caterpillar, but see how he has that humpback look?
Zebra ST cats also have cool stripes including distinctive, colored bands right behind their "head".
Now, let's take a look at my Tiger ST from today and compare! You can see they have black and yellow stripes behind their "head". They only display it when they're fully extended or sometimes when they're sitting humpbacked.
It makes sense that Swallowtail caterpillars would have similarities, being in the same family and all, but I thought it was rather neat to compare and contrast.
