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| I've seen this little butterfly 3 times in the past 4-5 days and finally got a picture of him. What in the world is this? This time, I checked both my butterfly books, and there is nothing to show what this might be.
At first, I thought "I couldn't be seeing a black butterfly with white spots" and then I got this picture. Hi is a little smaller than a Cabbage White and moves very fast. He comes around mid morning and early evening. The back of his wings appears to be the same as the underside. The picture isn't very good, but does anyone have an idea of what this is? Shirley! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by misssherry Z8/9MS (My Page) on Mon, Jul 9, 12 at 21:51
| 'Looks like an 8-spotted forester to me, which is a moth. Very pretty! Sherry |
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| Thanks, Sherry, going to go google this! Shirley! |
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| Well, here's what I found out: This is a "Alypia Octomaculata", a moth that flies during the day; it's found throughout the eastern USA and Canada; the host plants are grapevines or Virginia creeper; it overwinters as a pupa; they pupate in tunnels they construct in old wood or trash, just below the soil line; and are considered a pest in vineyards. I don't have any grapevines, but there has always been some sort of vine growing up the back of my house, googled it and it could be a Virginia creeper. I think that I'm a little west of it's range, but really glad he showed up! I'll try to get a better picture of this. Have a great day! Shirley! |
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- Posted by misssherry Z8/9MS (My Page) on Tue, Jul 10, 12 at 10:13
| Shirley, I remembered that I had found an 8 spotted forester cat a while back, so I checked my picture list and found this caterpillar eating grape leaves -
As I recall, I didn't try to rear it myself because of it needs pulpy wood to bore into to make its pupa, and I didn't know if I'd pick the right piece of wood. Sherry |
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- Posted by NaturesFolly none (My Page) on Tue, Jul 10, 12 at 12:26
| Wow! That is some cat! |
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| That's an excellent picture, Sherry. The websites I looked at last night didn't have pics of the cats or chrysalis's(I think that's the right word), so this is helpful to me. Also, do you remember how long that cat measured? And is the yellow portion it's head? Thanks for sharing! I went out to check the vine that might be the Virginia Creeper, this morning, and discovered that my neighbor had ripped it all out, thinking it was poison ivy. It isn't. I could spit! I had a Question Mark come in today, he posed for me for about an hour, got some good pictures. He buzzed the rotting fruit, but didn't land on it. Nectared on the Butterfly Bush. Shirley! |
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- Posted by misssherry Z8/9MS (My Page) on Wed, Jul 11, 12 at 9:59
| As I recall, the caterpillar was about ?1 1/2" long, maybe a little longer, but that was several years ago, 'don't remember for sure. The yellow part is the head. :) I saw a typo in my above post, at least I didn't delete a word I should have - I hate it when I do that! Sherry |
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