Wordless Wednesday: Funny Face

Differences

After discovering our first Zebra Longwing caterpillars ever in My Florida Backyard a few weeks ago, we're now noticing clutches of eggs on the passionvine too. Passionvine (Passiflora spp.) is a popular host plant. In Central Florida, it's used by Gulf Fritillaries and Zebra Longwings. Further south, it's used by Julia Longwings, and to the north by Variegated Fritillaries. (Learn more about all these butterflies and caterpillars here.)

The eggs of Zebra Longwings and Gulf Fritillaries look very similar, but due to the laying habits of the butterflies, you can actually tell them apart pretty easily. Zebra Longwings lay eggs in clusters at the ends of vines, while Gulf Fritillaries lay their eggs singly, often on the upper sides of leaves. (The pictures below aren't of the greatest quality, but they help explain the point.)

Zebra Longwing Eggs

Gulf Fritillary Egg

Once hatched, the caterpillars have similar feeding habits. It takes them about two weeks to grow full-size and pupate to chrysalis. They then spend about two weeks hanging in chrysalis before emerging as butterflies. Gulf Fritillaries round out the life cycle by spending about two weeks feeding and mating before they die, but Zebra Longwings are actually much longer lived as adults. They are one of the few butterflies that possess the ability to digest pollen in addition to nectar, allowing them to expand their lives as butterflies to as much as six months or more. The pollen collects on their proboscis and is digested externally (click here to see a picture of a Zebra Longwing with collected pollen) - a cool and unusual process in the insect world.

We love nature of all sizes in My Florida Backyard, but we're especially fond of it on a small scale. It's endlessly fascinating to flip a leaf and see what's beneath!

Black and White

The rainy season officially started on June 1, and we ushered it in here in My Florida Backyard with almost three inches of rain. After watching almost of all TS Beryl's rain go north and east of us, it was wonderful to see our rain gauge fill at last. The plants in the garden seemed to perk up almost immediately, as often happens after a nice rain. We took a little stroll around the yard to check things out, and discovered this random passionvine that we don't remember planting...

...at least not in this exact spot. We do have some about 25 feet away, and passionvines are definitely known for spreading underground and popping up in new places. This one is Florida's native Maypop (Passiflora incarnata), which is so aggressive that many people consider it a pest in their gardens. We don't mind it, because it generally gets eaten so quickly by Gulf Fritillary caterpillars that it doesn't have time to cause problems. Interestingly, though, it wasn't Gulf Fritillary caterpillars we discovered on the Maypop...

... it was Zebra Longwing (Heliconius charithonia) caterpillars! This was pretty exciting, because this is the first time we've documented Zebra Longwing caterpillars in our yard. I raise them at work all the time, and I've written about them on My Florida Backyard before, but it's so fun to have them here naturally.

These are one of my all-time favorite Florida native caterpillars. The stark black-and-white coloration, the crazy long (but completely harmless) spikes, the reddish color on their legs and prolegs - they're just really fascinating. These caterpillars are just about full-grown, and soon will pupate into chrysalis - also some of my favorites, as they look like tiny upside-down bats.

Zebra Longwing butterflies are actually pretty rare sightings in our yard; we don't remember seeing one here in several years. They're obviously around though. They have a great affinity for firebush as nectar plants, and this passionvine just happens to be climbing up one, so this is a perfect corner of our garden for them. We'll know now to keep our eye out for them, both as caterpillars and adult butterflies.

Take a Picture

I strolled outside this afternoon to water a few plants, and found some Polydamas Swallowtail caterpillars on the pipevine, apparently just waiting for a photo shoot. I was only too happy to oblige.

I call this one "Walkin' on Air"...

"Along Came a Spider"

And my personal favorite, "Polydamas in Paradise"

Incidentally, this is by far the earliest we've had Polydamas ST larva in My Florida Backyard. Last year, we were almost into summer before they appeared. 2012 has been an unusual year, to say the least.

We Gather Together

Here in My Florida Backyard, holidays are generally pretty quiet affairs. Our families live many hundreds of miles away, so it's usually just us enjoying our holiday meal out on the back porch. Of course, plenty of wildlife is also around, feasting as well.

Who joined in your Thanksgiving feast? We hope it was as nice as ours was. Happy Thanksgiving!

Mellow Yellow

Fall is the time of purple and gold in My Florida Backyard, and one of the brightest patches of yellow comes from the Winter Cassia (Cassia bicapsularis syn. Senna bicapsularis). This shrub provides a bright burst of color from now through the first frost with its unusual flowers, but that's not the only way it provides gold in the garden. You see, cassia species are host plants for sulphur caterpillars of several varieties. Normally, these caterpillars are the same green shade as the leaves they eat. But when the flowering season arrives, the caterpillars immediately begin to dine on this delicacy, and as a result - they turn bright yellow.

The species above is an Orange-Barred Sulphur caterpillar, but Cloudless Sulphur butterflies (shown below) will lay on cassia as well, along with the smaller Sleepy Orange. They generally lay far more eggs than will ever hatch - Winter Cassia is extremely attractive to ants, and while harvesting nectar the ants will also gobble up any sulphur eggs along the way. Fortunately, sulphur butterflies seem to haunt these bushes, laying eggs from spring to first frost, so their continued success is pretty well-assured.

It should be noted that some organizations place Cassia bicapsularis on invasive species lists, but other groups, like the University of Florida Extension, are not concerned and in fact continue to recommend this bush for planting. To add to the mess, C. bicapsularis is sometimes confused with Senna pendula, a similar and possibly more invasive species. You can use your own judgment on whether to include this non-native in your own landscape, but in My Florida Backyard, we feel comfortable enough with this plant to enjoy the incredible benefits it brings to the butterfly garden, including the bright yellow caterpillars of fall.

P.S. Nov. 7: A quick update - here's a good article from FloridaGardener.com with more info about the differences between C. bicapsularis and S. pendula.

Look Alike

Things always seem to slow down in the garden in August. It's so very very hot, with rain nearly every day, and we don't always seem to get out to see what's going on like we do in the cooler months. There's still plenty of activity, though, as we found when we turned over the oleander leaves and discovered some new caterpillars the other day.

Polka dots! We knew pretty quickly what these caterpillars were likely to be. Last year, we posted about the Spotted Oleander Moth (Empyreuma affinis), a Caribbean species that has been moving its range steadily north for the last 30 years or so. It feeds, as should be extremely obvious, on oleander (Nerium oleander).

The Spotted Oleander Moth is similar in appearance to the Common Oleander Moth, also called the Polka-Dotted Wasp Moth (Syntomeida epilais), both as adult moth and and as a caterpillar. The common oleander caterpillar is familiar to anyone who has oleander in their yards, as a bright orange caterpillar with black spiky hairs (click here to see a picture). The Spotted Oleander Moth caterpillar is also orange, but with white spots and mostly white hairs, with longer black hairs at the front and back.

All parts of the oleander plant are very toxic, so it seems likely that any caterpillars that feed on it would be toxic as well. The bright coloring of the spotted oleander caterpillar is a good indicator of that danger - it's a form of defense called "aposematism". These bright colors basically indicate to possible predators that the organism in question is likely to make them sick if eaten. The hairs of this caterpillar, or setae, are harmless to humans, but likely very irritating to anything trying to ingest it.

The common oleander caterpillar is a known pest on oleander plants, but the spotted oleander caterpillar shown here is not considered to be as destructive as they are not as gregarious. We found only three altogether on our oleander plants, so that seems true. 

Not that it matters to us. Since our yard is designed to attract wildlife, we rarely consider any new creatures to be pests in My Florida Backyard. This recent find was a good reminder that summer heat doesn't keep wildlife from visiting the garden, and it shouldn't keep us from visiting either!

Skipping 'Round the Garden

Not all butterflies are big and colorful. Some are small and need to be seen up close to be truly appreciated. Case in point: the Long-Tailed Skipper (Urbanus proteus). This diminutive butterfly is only a couple of inches in size, and seen in flight might appear to be a drab brown. But take a closer look - there's more than first meets the eye.

Long-Tailed Skippers lay eggs on a variety of plants in the pea and bean family (Fabacae). In the past, we've had Long-Tailed Skipper caterpillars on Hairypod Cowpea (Vigna luteola) and Creeping Beggarweed (Desmodium incanum). We've grown green beans and peas for them, too. This year, we have a new "volunteer" host plant for these skippers, Dixie Tick Trefoil (Desmodium tortuosum), a non-native that has naturalized in the southern US. A seed from this plant most likely hitched a ride home from the butterfly garden where I work, and has taken hold and grown... and grown... and grown. This plant is now well over six feet tall, and the leaves are kind of like condominiums for skipper caterpillars.

Skippers are leaf-rolling caterpillars. They use silk to pull the leaves around them to protect them while they eat. The leaves of D. tortuosum are soft and textured in a way that actually makes them stick to each other very easily, rather like Velcro. Perhaps this helps the caterpillars with the rolling?

Long-Tailed Skippers lay their eggs in stacks several high. We managed to catch this one in the act of ovipositing the other day - if you click the picture to enlarge it and look very closely, you can see the eggs she's already laid on the leaf at the end of her abdomen.

The light wasn't great, but we didn't want to disturb her, obviously. We did flip over the leaf and get a better shot of the eggs themselves when she was done.

Long-Tailed Skipper caterpillars have fun little heads, shaped almost like the peas and beans from their host plants. This caterpillar looks similar to other skipper caterpillars, like the Dorantes Skipper, but is easy to distinguish due to its bright orange hind end.

When ready to pupate, the caterpillar rolls itself up one final time for a safe place to transform into chrysalis. The chrysalis of the Long-Tailed Skipper is coated in a powdery substance that is a actually wax (click here to see a picture). After a couple of weeks, they emerge as butterflies to begin the process again.

Big or small, the butterfly and its life process is fascinating. We're so glad to have such a wide variety of species in all parts of their life cycle here in My Florida Backyard!

Give Me a "J"!

We came around the corner in the garden the other day and almost ran smack into this monarch caterpillar, hanging in the classic "J" position and preparing to pupate into chrysalis.

This is a pretty common sight in My Florida Backyard. Most species of butterfly caterpillars display this behavior, spinning a silk pad and attaching their hind end to it by a hook called a "cremaster". The rest of their body hangs free, allowing the caterpillar to shed its skin one last time and form a chrysalis. (Learn more about each species below by clicking the name.)

Zebra Longwing:

Queen:

Other butterfly species hang in a modified "J", using a second strand of silk to secure themselves across the middle. This adds an extra level of security in case the cremaster accidentally becomes detached.

Giant Swallowtail:

Eastern Black Swallowtail:

Observing the full life cycle of butterflies is just one of the joys of building and maintaining a wildlife habitat. Watching these creatures from egg to caterpillar to pupa to butterfly never fails to impress us with the amazing complexity of nature at its finest!

Flying Dutchman

When Calico Dutchman's Pipevine (Aristolochia littoralis) flowers, you really can't miss it. The blooms are the size of dinner plates, and up close the smell is fairly unpleasant. Still, the blooms are fascinating in color and shape.

Honestly, we probably shouldn't have this vine in our yard. A. littoralis is invasive in Florida (it's currently on the FLEPPC Category II list). We keep it around for the Polydamas Swallowtail caterpillars to feed on. However, because it's from South America, it's actually toxic to the Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars who also can accidentally lay on it.

Fortunately, it's easy to tell the eggs of the two species apart, so by watching the vines carefully for eggs, we can remove the red ones of the Pipevine ST to the native A. tomentosa that we also grow. (Polydamas eggs are yellow.) If you're not willing to take the time to do this, it's probably best for butterfly gardeners to eliminate A. littoralis from the yard to avoid harming our native butterflies.

One, Two, Three

Just in time for St. Patrick's Day, the latest crop of monarch caterpillars in My Florida Backyard have wriggled their way into shimmering green chrysalises, after eating every single leaf of milkweed available. (Seriously, the plants are completely stripped!) They've chosen all kinds of odd places, including three of them on this fennel plant. Can you spot them all?

Nature creates the most ridiculously beautiful things, don't you think?

Happy St. Patrick's Day - don't forget to follow the monarchs' example of the Wearing of the Green!

To Everything, There is a Season

Any butterfly gardener knows that milkweed is one of the most important plants in any butterfly garden. We often refer to it as the "all-in-one butterfly plant", because it provides food for monarch butterflies (and several others) throughout their entire life cycle. This subfamily of butterflies (Danainae) lay their eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves so the caterpillars are in the perfect place to start feeding when they hatch. After metamorphosis, the adult butterflies sip the nectar from the flowers.

There are a multitude of milkweed species native to Florida, but (not surprisingly) most are difficult to find, even at native plant nurseries. The two most readily available are Scarlet Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica), which is actually not native but does very well here during hot and humid summers, and Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa), which is perfect for the cool season.

A. tuberosa can take a light frost with minimal damage, and thrives in moderate temperatures. It's available in both yellow and orange flowered varieties, and both are great for monarchs, queens, and other milkweed butterflies.

Monarchs do live year-round in Central Florida. Unlike northern populations, the Florida population does not migrate to Mexico, so butterfly gardeners should strive to provide them with host and nectar plants all throughout the year. At this time of year, you may not see many butterflies, but on warm afternoons they can still be found where the right plants are available, and the right plant right now is A. tuberosa.

If you can't find plants, A. tuberosa is pretty easy to start from seed, which you should be able to find most places seeds are sold. We bought a couple of packets of the orange-flowered variety from Burpee at Home Depot last week for $1 each. This is also a good time to start seeds for other varieties of milkweed - many of the native varieties are available online from native plant catalogs like Prairie Moon. We're thinking of trying Swamp Milkweed (A. incarnata) and Whorled Milkweed (A. verticillata) this year, just for variety. We'll let you know if we succeed!

Raindrops

Glory Hallelujah! After the driest October in recorded history (we haven't seen a raindrop in six weeks), My Florida Backyard finally got some rain today! Here are some shots of our residents and visitors enjoying the little fall of rain...

Penta (Pentas lanceolata):

Muhly Grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris):

Gaura (Gaura lindeimeri):

Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempivirens):

Knockout Rose (Rosa 'Radtko'):

Dianthus (Dianthus chinensis):

Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar (Agraulis vanillae):

Today's rain was just some gentle soaking showers off and on, but there's more rain in the forecast over the next few days. The residents, visitors, and caretakers of My Florida Backyard can't wait!

Orange and Black

Now that the weather up north is cooling off, Monarch (Danaus plexippus) butterflies are returning to My Florida Backyard in droves. In the hottest months of summer, monarchs and many other butterflies aren't seen quite as frequently, as it's just too hot for their cold-blooded bodies. Now that cooler temps have arrived (this week's unseasonal heat wave notwithstanding), the monarchs are haunting the milkweed again.

The migration of monarchs to Mexico each winter is well-known. However, Central and South Florida have a year-round resident population of monarchs, as our weather doesn't generally get cold enough to make migration necessary. You'll find them nearly every month of the year, although they're more common in spring and fall months when the weather is best for flying.

Milkweed is the key to bringing monarchs to your yard. Adults nectar on the flowers, and females lay eggs on the plants so their caterpillars can consume the leaves. There are many varieties of milkweed available for sale, but in Florida you're most likely to find non-native Tropical or Scarlet Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica), as seen in these pictures. You may also find Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa), which has bright yellow flowers but tends to wilt a bit during the hottest parts of summer. There are other species of milkweed native to Florida, but you'll rarely find them for sale.

With Halloween just around the corner, it's nice of the monarchs to drop by and bring a little holiday color to My Florida Backyard!