Rue, caterpillars, a butterfly

15 years ago

I've been active on the Cottage Garden forum for a few weeks, and have read some posts here. I always enjoy Nell's photos, and some of the others on the cottage garden side are also here. I have been gardening for many years, and tend to buy plants that attract butterflies. Now, I am wanting to be more intentional and plant more plants for the caterpillars. I also want to learn more about identification of butterflies and caterpillars.

I read a discussion on rue on the discussion side today, and thought I'd send some photos. I have 2 plants on the east side of my yard, one shaded from the west by our house, the healthiest shaded by the shed and tall plants to the west. I also have one in a pot on the east side of the garage that survived the winter in our egress window.

Four caterpillars have been munching on the plant that is blooming for a couple days. I think 3 of them may be Anise swallowtails. I couldn't find the other one in my books or online. Does anyone know what it is? I had trouble taking close up photos, because my camera would focus on other things, and the cats would be blurry.

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I don't remember when I planted this one, but it was within a year or two of the larger one. It had a caterpillar a few weeks ago for a couple days. I moved it today to make room for a day lily.

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I don't remember whether I deadheaded this or caterpillars did. It seems like the 3 that are alike are munching on flowers. Is that the part they prefer?

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A butterfly on Anise hyssop, a red admiral? (I saw one earlier on my house, looked it up, and thought that's what it may be :

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Sue

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Comments (9)

lvtgrdn
Original Author
15 years ago
Oops! I didn't notice I put the same photo twice. Here's the one I thought I was putting in. I forgot to ask if I could move a couple of the caterpillars to one of the other plants. If it is the flowers they want, then I can't, since the others are not blooming. Sue
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lvtgrdn
Original Author
15 years ago
I took these today. They are growing! I can't tell if the upper cat is the one that looked different yesterday. Are these 2 different kinds of cats?
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jmcat
15 years ago
They're the same kind, just different growth stages. The Anise Swallowtails and Black Swallowtails start out as the black with white saddle, and then change to the pretty green coloring at the fourth or fifth instar. You have one of them, but I won't know which unless I know where you are.
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lvtgrdn
Original Author
15 years ago
Jmcat,
I'm in eastern Nebraska. I saw a black butterfly with blue shapes on the bottom of the wings, I think a swallowtail flying around, landing on all 5 of my rue plants that are in different areas of the yard. I have a lot to learn, so I don't know if it was laying eggs or not. I only have one cat on the rue now. I don't know if birds ate them, they formed their crysalises (sp?) or if my neighbor boy took them. He had a tomato worm in a container, and I showed him the cats on the rue, telling him I was letting them stay there.

Sue
gcertain
15 years ago
Sue,
I can't say for sure, but based on the reported ranges for Anise and Black Swallowtails, I would guess your cats are Black Swallowtails. Anises have not been reported in eastern Nebraska, but Blacks are common over most of the state. The cats look very similar.

I think you're right about the Red Admiral.
lvtgrdn
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for the id help. I have more eggs and tiny cats on my rue. I have been seeing one or two black, what I think are eastern tiger swallowtails, a black swallowtail, and a monarch or two each day. Do you think they are the same individuals I'm seeing each day, or different ones?

I don't think I've seen any more red admirals. I've been seeing some brown butterflies that I haven't identified yet. Of course there are lots of white cabbage and little blue butterflies each day.
Sue
gcertain
15 years ago
Sue,
Did you see this thread in the Discussion area: Another new swallowtail for me (What is this)
It's a discussion of possible Anise Swallowtails showing up in Missouri and the likelihood that they are a subspecies of a different swallowtail indigenous to the area. Who'd a thunk it would be so hard to figure out what kind of butterflies are in our gardens?
geni
lvtgrdn
Original Author
15 years ago
Yes, I did see that. I thought one of my butterflies was an anise swallowtail until I looked further, and it seems to be an Eastern Swallowtail. I hope they figure out what the one in Missouri is.

Sue
lvtgrdn
Original Author
15 years ago
I made a big mistake showing my neighbor kids the cats on my rue. They were gone the next day, and I never knew if they made their chrysalises or got eaten by birds or what. Now, I have a bunch of eggs and babies hatching out daily. I just love looking at them multiple times a day.

The kids were at our door this evening asking us to identify what they thought was a grasshopper. We think it was a katydid. They had containers with them, and wanted to look for caterpillars. I told them I watch them every day, and want to keep them on the plant. The parents walked over and wanted to visit about the flowers, then I saw the 4 year old girl swishing the rue leaves around looking for cats. I explained to the parents that I don't want them to take them. Hopefully they will leave them alone. When I went to look at them later, I didn't see the largest of them. I imagine it fell when she was swishing the leaves.

Another neighbor girl, who is going into the 4th grade joined us, and told us there is a swallowtail on the butterfly bush, and proceeded to tell us a bunch of stuff she knows about butterflies and a number of other insects. The boy wanted to catch a bee, and she said it was mean. He said, "Well, you threw a rock at a butterfly." She said it's because she collects and mounts them for a science project. Maybe I'm going to have to have a visit with her parents. grrr. I told her not to catch butterflies in my yard. Who knows if any of them will respect my wishes. It's not just the birds that predate on the butterflies in my yard.

Sue