Posts Tagged: Agraulis vanillae
Autumn's Hues: The Gulf Fritillary and Mexican Sunflower
"The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough."--Rabindranath Tagore...
A newly eclosed Gulf Fritillary. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Gulf Fritillary will soon be able to take flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The silver-spangled Gulf Fritillary, a showy orange butterfly, looks like two different species. When it spreads its wings, it's orange. The underwings: silver. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Not two butterflies; this is one, the Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The showy Gulf Fritillary on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Hungry, Hungry Caterpillars!
It starts out slow. Beginning in the spring (and sometimes year-around in some locales) Gulf...
A Gulf Fritillary laying eggs on her host plant, passionflower vine. Note the eggs (yellow dots) on the left. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
By fall, the only thing left on the passionflower vine is the fruit. The leaves are gone. The hungry caterpillars are like insect shredding machines. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
No leaves--just fruit--remain on this skeletonized passionflower vine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The end result: a Gulf Fritillary adult. This one is nectaring on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Red Passionflower Vine: Pretty But Poisonous?
If want to plant a passionflower vine (Passiflora)--the host plant of Gulf Fritillary butterflies...
A Gulf Fritillary foraging on a lavender passionflower vine, genus Passiflora. This is the Gulf Frits' host plant, they lay their eggs only on Passiflora. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gulf Fritillaries avoided this species of red passsionflower vine, Passiflora jamesonii, planted in the Garvey yard. Honey bees, however, did not. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Insect Wedding Photography-- Or How a Tired Ol' Male Proved He Wasn't
You're heard these idioms: The early bird gets the worm First come, first...
A newly eclosed female Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) hanging from her empty chrysalis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A tired old male, his wings tattered and torn, is the first to arrive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The action at the "altar": the newly eclosed female Gulf Fritillary and the tired old male. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Two Gulf Fritillary butterflies become one. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Two-Headed Butterfly?
There's an old joke circulating among entomologists about excited novices contacting them about...
Gulf Fritillaries (Agraulis vanillae) on their host plant, Passiflora, doing what nature intended. At the far right is a Gulf Frit caterpillar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Photo Two: The Gulf Fritillaries begin to spread their wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Photo Three: The reddish-orange wings of the Gulf Fritillaries are stunning. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Photo Four: The coloring and contrast of the silver-spangled and reddish-orange wings make it one of the showiest butterflies in California. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Photo Five: These butterflies engaged for about 10 minutes, while the photographer was there. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Photo Six: After the photographer captured this image, the butterflies separated and flew their separate ways. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)