I have never seen a cat on my NEA but I have seen quite a few butterflies around them. Come to think of it, I've never witnessed oviposition, either.

I've never seen a pearl crescent caterpillar. David Wagner in his book Caterpillars of Eastern North America says, "Even though the pearl crescent is among the most common butterflies in Connecticut, I have never encountered its caterpillar. Females raft the eggs in clusters of 20-300. The young caterpillars are solitary and do not form a nest.........The third instar overwinters."

And in The Life Cycles of Butterflies by Burris and Richards, the authors say, "The young caterpillar eats the leaves of aster plants. As cold weather approaches, it stops eating and spends the winter resting at the base of the plant until spring arrives."

This doesn't answer your question as to whether they use New England asters or not, but it gives you a clue how elusive these cats are. I didn't realize that pearl crescents spent the winter as caterpillars until recently, when I read up on them. So this winter, we WON'T be mowing the meadows.

i planted several different types of asters this year, Georgia asters and some other type of aromatic aster that's native to Louisiana. There are other native types growing in the meadows, most just don't have the big flowers we all like.

One of the things on my 'bucket list' is to see a pearl crescent caterpillar. I saw an adult already earlier this spring, so hopefully, it was a female and she left me some gifts. I haven't found any cats so far.

I doubt that anybody can answer your question, because I've posted on this forum for over 10 years, and I've never seen anybody post that they've seen one - SURELY I'd remember it if they had! Your New England asters are just as likely to host them as any other. If I ever find any cats, you can be sure I'll post on this forum what aster it's on!!

Sherry

I think Sandy is the only one who has raised them that I am aware of. I attached her image of the larva, but I don't know which Aster species she found them eating. Maybe she will pop in and help us out.

Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: Sandy's Photo of Pearl Crescent Larva on Pbase

Oh my, I had no idea they were so elusive! That is really interesting that they are so common but so rarely seen. Thanks for all the great information, Miss Sherry! I hope you find some this year.

Susan, I will try to contact Sandy if she doesn't show up here.

Thanks so much!

Ive seen some damage on my Aster, but it looks as though I'll have to do a Midnight Raid to find one of these cuties in the act.
I have New England Aster volunteers and a more compact cultivar.
I also have a smooth leaved Aster on the side.

Hi all,

Been away and just got back and saw this thread. I raised Pearl Crescents on an annual aster. Seems like it made it back a second year. The color of the flowers was magenta. Hasn't happened again, even though I have lots of asters in the garden. Hope you have some luck with them.

Sandy

Hi all,

Been away and just got back and saw this thread. I raised Pearl Crescents on an annual aster. Seems like it made it back a second year. The color of the flowers was magenta. Hasn't happened again, even though I have lots of asters in the garden. Hope you have some luck with them.

Sandy

Hi Kellybird;
There is a good article on pearl crescents in NABA's Amerian Butterflies magazine. It is the Summer 2009 issue, volume 17, number 2. The author and his students have raised a lot of pearl crescents. The author states "My rearing records indicate that Pearl Crescents prefer New England and lance-leaved asters (A. novae-angliae and A. lanceolatus), but that they'll readily use crooked-stem aster (A. prenanthoides) as well." Then he goes on to describe the long list of published records for host plants, all in the aster family. He mentions that they wont a plant that has the chemical atractylon in the leaves, of which flat-topped aster does.

He mentions that the are probably our most common butterfly. He also says that the eggs match the plant color and are hard to see. He also says that the 1st instars do group together for defense but are very small. They don't spin nests like baltimore checkerspots. The pictures show the caterpillars to be light green with black heads. So, they may be hard to find as well.

I highly recommend reading this article.

Cheers,
Elisabeth

Cheers,
Elisabeth

Thanks for the info, Elisabeth. Very interesting. Have no idea what the plant was that I found the caterpillars on. The bad thing was that the plant died the following year, and I haven't seen another one like it in any nursery.

Sandy

Sandy, Didn't you find a chrysalis on an aster you were clearning away, and you almost missed it? Was that you? It was years ago.

I'm not for sure that was me, Bernergirl. I think I found caterpillars eating my aster. I did get a chrysalis that I photographed. That picture, and the caterpillar photo, have been requested by several nature centers across the US.

Sandy

Thanks so much for all the great information, everyone. I have become a NABA member so I can get their publications and I back-ordered that particular volume.

Thanks again, there is so much great knowledge on this forum!