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Category: butterflies (Page 16 of 43)

Bug of the Week: Comparing Milkweed Caterpillars

September 30, 2015 / / 0 Comments

This week we had two caterpillars on our rush milkweeds.

stripy-2-caterpillarAt first glance they look quite similar.

stripey-3-caterpillarBoth have bands of color and filaments (also called tubercles) that look like antennae.

stripey-2-47Looking more closely, it is apparent that this caterpillar has two pairs of filaments, one pair in front and one pair in back. In addition, its bands of color are unbroken.

stripy-three-68This caterpillar has three pairs of filaments and some of the dark bands have droplets of yellow in them.

Do you know what species of caterpillars these are?

Note on the filaments (tubercles):  These threadlike projections are often mistaken for antennae. Caterpillars do have antennae, but they are only tiny bumps on the front of the head near the mandibles. The filaments vary in length and are occasionally missing.

Caterpillars like these can move their filaments, sometimes in a jerky motion.

Answers:  The caterpillar in the first and third photographs will turn into one of these. The caterpillar in the second and fourth photographs is one of these.

 

Bug of the Week: Butterfly Season

August 26, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Arizona’s seasons are often out of sync, especially in the Sonoran Desert. When everyone else is shutting down and getting ready for fall and winter, our wildlife is gearing up. A few weeks ago, we featured some insect eggs. Now we have caterpillars and chrysalids galore.

queen-caterpillar-small

Take this larva of a queen butterfly resting on a rush milkweed. It is taking advantage of the new growth the plants are putting out after recent rains.

queen-chrysalis-003Some of the faster developing larvae have already transformed into chrysalids. They will soon be adult queen butterflies.

skipper-on-cordiaThe skipper butterflies have already reached adulthood and are ready to lay eggs again.

Check out this post by Margarethe Brummermann who says there were 28 species of butterflies (as well as other insects) in Madera Canyon this week. She also posted an amazing video on Flickr.

 What insects did you see this week?

Bug of the Week: Texan Crescent Butterfly

June 10, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Do you remember our recent butterfly gardening week? Today we have additional evidence that “if you plant it, they will come.”

Look what was in our yard:

new-texan-crescent-bst16A brand new Texan crescent butterfly was drying its wings!

Since it was so freshly emerged, it seemed likely that its caterpillar had been feeding on a nearby plant. Which one? (If you’d like to see what the caterpillars look like, Butterflies of America has a page of photographs.)

Dicliptera-flower-055

After consulting two books about Arizona butterflies, apparently Texan crescent caterpillars feed on a plant called Arizona foldwing, Dicliptera resupinata.

Dicliptera-leaves-044

We just happen to have Arizona foldwing growing in that area of the yard. How cool is that? Hopefully, we’ll see some Texan crescent caterpillars soon.

Last week we talked about butterfly families and gave the answers to our previous post, butterfly identification for beginners.

What butterfly family does a Texan crescent belong to?

new-texan-crescent-side-074Let me give you a hint. Count the number of legs.

Doesn’t it look like the adult butterfly has only four legs? That means it is a brush-footed butterflies or member of the family Nymphalidae. Although it does have front legs, they aren’t used for standing.

 Do you have any caterpillar food plants in your yard?

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