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Tue, Apr 12, 11 at 15:58
| While I was out working in my garden today, I saw a variegated frit flying close to the ground outside my garden. I checked the new growth on the passionvines that grow on the picket fence around my house, and bingo! I finally got VF eggs again! Before the hurricane in 2005, they used to leave me eggs on my passionvines early each spring, then use the violets when the gulf frits had taken over the passis. I haven't checked violets, but there are plenty of them in my garden, growing at the base of other plants.
I'm so excited - it's been so long! I got a picture of one of them - it's not very good, but, as I recall, I never could get a good, unblurry picture of a variegated frit egg - Sherry |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| How exciting! Hoping for some on my violets this year. Jeff |
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- Posted by misssherry Z8MS (My Page) on Tue, Apr 12, 11 at 17:24
| I hope you do, too, Jeff! I went back outside, saw a palamedes swallowtail flitting around a young redbay or swampbay - I can never tell them apart - so I went to see if there were any eggs there. Didn't find any eggs, but a hatchling was on a new leaf - YAY! I also saw a butterfly flying low to the ground that looked like a pearl crescent from where I stood - I never did get a good look at it. It might have been an American lady, but it appeared to be too small, also the coloring wasn't right. I planted out some rice button asters this year, and I'd just LOVE to find PC cats. I've never seen even one. I also think I saw the first giant swallowtail of the year, again, too far off for me to be sure. It may have been a palamedes swallowtail - from a distance, they look very similar. I'll be checking my giant swallowtail host plants, though. Sherry |
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- Posted by butterflymomok (My Page) on Tue, Apr 12, 11 at 18:09
| Congrats, Miss Sherry! I know how much you've wanted these butterflies. I saw my first VF today, but it wasn't in my backyard. I visited a friend's place. She has 3 acres and a creek. I'm struggling not to covet!! She needs help with getting some plants going--so I will do what I can. She's on disability. Anyway, WTG!! It looks like a good BF year so far. sandy |
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| Gratz the eggs dont look nothing like GF I sure wish we got the fritillarys here never see them but the GF I saw around 10 all chasing each other today they even chase my only black swallowtail off hehehehe Angie |
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- Posted by misssherry Z8MS (My Page) on Wed, Apr 13, 11 at 15:53
| I've been out in the garden, planting out the dill plants that the black swallowtails ate. I've planted them underneath shrubs and other shady garden spots to increase the chances they can survive the heat here. My Mama variegated frit was out there checking out the host plants, laying some more eggs, and nectaring, mostly on the new scarlet/coral colored zinnias -  I also got a picture of the tiny hatchling palamedes cat on a small redbay -  Sherry |
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- Posted by butterflymomok (My Page) on Wed, Apr 13, 11 at 15:57
| Love the photos! The passionvine is popping up everywhere here. I expect the VFs will be along soon. Love the little Palamedes cat--don't get those here. Isn't this a great year!! |
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| A hardy congrats on the VF eggs Sherry! Wow. That is one cool looking chrysalis they make, isn't it? I can understand why you'd covet them!!!~~Angie |
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- Posted by misssherry Z8MS (My Page) on Tue, Apr 19, 11 at 16:52
| Yes, they sometimes make a beautiful chrysalis, but usually, at least for me, they make a brown and white one. I've been looking for hatchling cats and couldn't find any. I found what appears to be a hatchling up in the new growth leaf fold of my Indigo Dreams passionvine! Indigo Dreams is a hybrid of P. Incense and P. caerulea, so if this is indeed a VF cat, it's the first time I've ever found one on anything other than P. incarnata or common violets. I kept looking at some other P. incarnatas and finally found a TINY little cat. Variegated frits are so good at hiding, I usually don't find them until they're in their 3rd or 4th instar. Can you see the tiny little hatchling?  Sherry |
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- Posted by misssherry Z8MS (My Page) on Sun, May 1, 11 at 15:20
| I found two VF cats on some common violets in my garden - combined with the ones I already found, that brings the total to six. One of the violet cats moved over to the passionvine that the other ones were eating, the other one has stuck to violets. Here's a picture of a violet cat, taken last yesterday afternoon -  Sherry |
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- Posted by misssherry Z8MS (My Page) on Sun, May 1, 11 at 15:33
| I meant "late" yesterday afternoon - duh! Sherry |
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- Posted by bananasinohio (My Page) on Tue, May 3, 11 at 16:06
| Miss Sherry; That is so exciting. What a great caterpillar! Nice pics too. Do you know what type of violet you have there? I would like to find a key for violets. I guess the non-native sweet violet is toxic to frits. I thought I would be able to tell them apart easily but now I don't know... I have my first V. frits last year. I found some late instar on a P. incarnata. I was sooo excited. They made the lovely pearly white and gold chrysalises too. So, pretty! We probably won't have them this year as we are off to a bad start..cold and wet...boo. -Elisabeth |
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- Posted by misssherry Z8MS (My Page) on Tue, May 3, 11 at 18:59
| It's just a common, heart-shaped leaf, purple-flowering violet, Elisabeth. The scientific name could be V. floridana (MS wildflower book) or V. rosacea (LA wildflower book)or V. papillionacea (AL wildflower book) - there are many different names for what looks like the same plant. We also have a white-flowering violet, V. primulifolia, that they have never used. The leaves are sort of corrugated, sort of like seersucker, and they apparently are chemically different from the purple ones. I let violets grow under all the shrubs in my garden, plus my blueberry bushes. I think they're pretty, and they're used off and on by variegated frits. Sherry |
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| I have violets growing wild in my yard, but I'm not sure if they're the toxic non-native one. I have a new passionvine, though, so if I ever do get caterpillars on it, I'll have to see if they'll eat the violets I have growing wild. Miss Sherry, how do you find your frit caterpillars? I've heard they are nocturnal as caterpillars. Do they leave obvious damage on the violets as a sort of giveaway? |
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- Posted by misssherry Z8MS (My Page) on Tue, May 3, 11 at 23:36
| They're VERY hard to find in the early instars, managing to hide until they get into the middle instars at least. The only reason I found these is I saw the Mama, so I checked for eggs on the passionvines. I didn't find the violet cats until the middle (or late) instars, which is typical - I didn't look for eggs on the violets, because they're crowded in hard to see spots. Maybe if my violets grew singly, the damage would be obvious, but mine grow in large groups under shrubs, and violets sprout new growth after being eaten very quickly, so I never see any damage. Sherry |
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- Posted by misssherry Z8MS (My Page) on Thu, May 12, 11 at 20:12
| All the variegated frits have made their chrysalis except one, that came from a late-laid egg. For whatever reason, I never got a picture of a regular VF chrysalis, just the white ones I was lucky enough to get one time. This is what variegated frit chrysalides normally look like here, still pretty to me - Sherry |
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| Beautiful! Great photo too! :D |
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- Posted by misssherry Z8MS (My Page) on Fri, May 20, 11 at 20:42
| Thanks! All the VFs have made their chrysalis except one, and it's in the "J" - I found several more little cats since I last posted. Several have emerged and been released, and they've all flown out of the cage and traveled farther than just the trees and shrubs in the front yard, so I couldn't get a nice picture of them on a plant. Two emerged this morning, so when the first one took off out of sight, I decided to go ahead and take a picture of one in the cage. Butterflies are so beautiful when they first emerge, no tatters, and VIVID, dark coloring -  Sherry |
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