Caterpillar Sightings!

20 years ago

As of August 26th I had several easily found caterpillars in my yard of the following species: Buckeyes on Agalinus fasciculata (Gerardia), Giant Swallowtails on Toothache Tree, Cloudless Sulfurs on Partridge Pea, Viceroys on Black Willow, Long-tailed Skippers on Desmodium tortuosum, Spicebush Swallowtails on Spicebush, Palamedes on Swamp Bay, Black Swallowtails on an unidentified Carrot Relative, and Gulf fritillaries and eggs of Zebra Longwings on Passionvine. I live in Elberta, Alabama near Pensacola, Florida, and Gulf Shores, Alabama. I found the first egg ever on my Pipevine plant. It looks just like a Giant Swallowtail egg and is only inches away from a citrus plant. Does anyone know if a Giant Swallowtail could have missed her mark? Does anyone nearby want to exchange info on host plants and caterpillars? I am trying to restore natives to my place, so I am only interested in native plants. That limits me to two or three thousand species, here in Alabama.

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Comments (8)

firevicar
20 years ago
You could plant paw-paw for zebra swallotails. Plant datura, sweet potato, tomato, for sphinx larva. Do you have some butterfly ginger and datura which the huge sphinx moths can't resist at night. Grow some fennel for the black swallotails. Brazilian skippers love cannas (canna leaf roller), and any of the cabbage family will attract the cabbage white. You might also draw some variegated fritilaries to your passion vines. The butterfly is secretive and the larva looks not unlike the gulf frittilary. RE your errant egg on the pipevine: pipevine swallowtails usually lay a cluster of eggs, and the caterpillars roam as a group. Perhaps you do have a mistake. If you don't have any, you might plant any of the asclepias species to draw the Queen and the Monarchs.
biophilia
Original Author
20 years ago
Thanks for all the good suggestions! Actually, I have nearly all the things you mentioned (or native alternatives), and more. At one point, looking through the plant index in the Audubon Guide to Butterflies I counted 80 species of butterfly host plants that I have here on my 20 acres. I'm restoring natives back to old farmland, so most of those are species I intentionally planted. Plenty others have just volunteered. This is my first year of planting paw paw and I got Zebra swallowtail cats with the plants but haven't had any since they grew up. I have some amazing Banded Sphinx moth caterpillars on my Ludwigia octovalvis (primrose willow) right now. In addition to the cats on my previous post, I also have Little Sulfurs on my sensitive plant, Giant Leopard Moth cats on Coral Honeysuckle, and probably some eggs of newly arriving Monarchs, but I haven't found the Monarch eggs yet. This has been a great year. What do you have, and where are you? I am just starting to see some Variegated Fritillaries, but haven't found the cats yet, lately.
Biophilia,
Elberta, Alabama
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Wow--that is a dramatic decrease! I wonder if Monarch Watch is a good place for you to report or to check for sightings this year. So sorry--know how disappointing it is to have everything up and ready and no takers. Maybe next year or you never know--you may get some still. When I was in NH, I would have some come through in September--migrating though--they loved all of the goldenrods and asters in bloom.
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They also love to eat Rue, an old medicinal type herb, with lovely blue-green, lacy foliage. Precure Nursery sells it, as well as very nice Fennel and Dill plants. I know they don't spray the Dill and Fennel because they are considered food plants, but they may spray the Rue on occasion. If the Rue is sitting on the tables with the Fennel and Dill, it is relatively safe to say it has not been sprayed. If, however, it is located on a table some distance from the Dill and Fennel, it has been sprayed. I know one summer they had a problem with mealy bugs on the Rue, so they moved it to the Perennial plant section and sprayed them. Someone purchased the Rue plants unsuspectingly, and when the cats consumed the Rue, they died. That said, I highly recommend Precure because they sell a lot of butterfly host and nectar plants. I have purchased other host plants such as Blue Crown Passion Vine (for the Gulf Fritillarys), Pussytoes (Antennaria, for the American Ladies), Pearly Everlasting (American Ladies), and other things. Their herb plants are usually pretty good sized. I have to go there today to get more Rue and Fennel, so I can let you know the status of their Rue if you would like. The thing I like about Rue is that it is also the food plant for the Giant Swallowtails, so you would have 2 different butterflies using them for larval food. The Black Swallowtail is Oklahoma's state butterfly, too! If you want to, you could hand-raise a couple of the caterpillars so your daughter can see the life cycle up close. Just use a plastic container, with airholes punched in the lid, small enough the larvae cannot get thru them. I put a paper towel in the bottom (change daily cuz caterpillars poop a lot), and add fresh Dill leaves in the morning and evening, removing whatever is left of the old. I use the plastic containers and cut out the inside portion of the top, put a paper towel over the container and put the lid back on (you will have just the rim of the lid left) or you can cover the entire container with a paper towel secured with a rubber band. When they reach the last instar of growth, they will began to wander around the container and empty their guts. If your container is tall enough, you can put some sticks or something wooden, stand them up or lean them against the sides, and they will pupate either on these or on the sides, top of container. When the cat has found a place to pupate, it will spin a "harness" and position itself securely against the stick or side of the container where it will remain motionless. Eventually, they shed their skin for the last time and in its place is a chrysalis, either brown or green. Inside its interior is turning to liquid and then reconstituting as a butterfly. In about 7-10 days, you will see the chrysalis begin to darken. Within a day or so, the butterfly will slide out of the chrysalis and hang to dry. The wings are all crumpled up and damp looking. Don't disturb it. The butterfly will begin to pump fluid into the wings, the wings will extend and dry. After a few hours, the butterfly will be ready to fly. This may sound difficult, but it is not at all. I have used containers like large, plastic pretzel containers from Sam's Club, mesh cages purchased from Educational Science online, butter/margarine containers, etc. I cover them with paper towels held in place with rubber bands. The most important things are keeping the containers clean, and providing fresh food daily, twice daily when they get big. You will notice them growing and eating more and more. Congrats on your big, beautiful caterpillars! Susan Here is a link that might be useful: Black Swallowtail Life Cycle
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biophilia
Original Author
20 years ago
Learning what other people are seeing at specific times of year, and learning how to attract/find caterpillars of more species are my main reasons for belonging to GardenWeb. I wish this thread would keep going with other people's input. My caterpillar inventory (all from the wild) hasn't changed much since August 26th, with the notable exception of now having many Monarch caterpillars. As of November 4th, I have the following caterpillars:
Monarch- cats on Scarlet Milkweed, Asclepias curassavica
Giant Swallowtail- eggs through big cats on citrus
Little Yellow- eggs on up on Sensitive Plant and Partridge Pea
Palamedes Swallowtail- large cats on Swamp Bay
Spicebush Swallowtail- large cat on Swamp Bay
Giant Leopard Moth- large cat on honeysuckles
Banded Sphinx Moth- one tiny cat
Gulf Fritillaries- eggs, cats galore but Passionvine dwindling
Buckeyes- cats on Gerardia, Plantains
Pinkish coral-colored bristled caterpillar on live oak
American Painted Lady-tiny cats on up on Cudweed, Gnaphalium spp.
Viceroys- small cats making hibernaculae on willow
biophilia
Original Author
20 years ago
I realize now that this is on the wrong forum, which is why it hasn't moved much. Sorry!!
Brigitte_MiamiSprgs
20 years ago
thanks for sharing this good info. we will be moving to north florida soon and i'm sure i can look forward to such a good variety there also
nascarmonte
19 years ago
I've found a ton of cats this week that are huge, totally black, and have 2 sets of 2 thin long yellow stripes down their backs with curled horns. My tree to the side of the house is now without leaves as that was apparently the host for these creatures. Can anyone ID them for me?
Thanks!
nascarmonte
19 years ago
Well I found the ID of my caterpillar. I thought I'd share with all of you, especially those of you living in the foothills or piedmont of NC. It's called a Peiglers Oakworm Moth. Ugly moth too! Here is the URL of a pic of the caterpillar in question: http://www.bugguide.net/images/cache/EZQL4Z0LUZ4HYHEHRRNHZRNHNZXLFHXH8Z8HTHNH1ZGL3HIL8ZZLNZ4LJHWHAZPHFHPHWZZLGZGHAHXH2ZKL1H.jpg
They defoliate oak trees, water oaks and laurel trees.
This stinks, I wanted it to turn into a pretty butterfly of some kind.

Here is a link that might be useful: oakworm caterpillar info, Anisota peigleri
Ygondine
19 years ago
I have a lot of cats that look like the pvs, but they are eating oak tree leaves. Is there a similar cat or do mine just like a different diet?
Thanks in advance for your help and I look foward to learning more from everyone at the garden web.

Caterpillar Sightings!

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Caterpillar Sightings!

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