Cool I never seen a gorgone checkerspot.

Your photos are SOO beautiful! And I am in awe at your butterfly raising skills!

Thanks, Dr. Liz! Been lots of trial and error over about 32 years.

Awesome portfolio of butterflies!! I esp miss the Cloudless Sulfurs and Queens of South Florida...

Sandy - these are the ones I've been raising - none have eclosed yet so I'm not sure what I have exactly - but this one does resemble your Gorgone Checkerspot caterpillars, don't ya think?

~Laura

How fantastic!

I love crescents and checkerspots, and we only get the pearl crescents - they've been scarce this year, unfortunately. I can imagine that raising these was messy, but so worth it!

Sherry

Yes, Laura, that's the same! Sherry, I tried to raise a bunch of them and turned them loose as they were extremely messy, the leaves turned crisp quickly, and they were dying off. So I just brought in three that looked close to pupating, and kept them in a fairly airtight container with a couple of leaves. Still had to change out leaves frequently as they don't eat the leaves, they eat the top layer and essentially skeletonize the leaves, so they dry up quickly.

On FB, a guy posted from Arkansas City, KS that they found 28 of the butterflies on their count, and a butterfly friend from TX has found the caterpillars also. So, as Larry would say, we've had an irruption of Chlosyne gorgone in South Central US this summer. It has been 5 or 6 years since I last saw these in the garden. I truly believe, from observations, that there are peaks and wanes in specific butterfly populations. We are seeing a low in the Monarch population--hopefully it will correct itself. The East Coast has had a large population of Eastern Tiger Swallowtails this year. I have had Red Admirals all summer long which has never happened before. But, there are lots of species that are missing that normally make an appearance. We will see if they are just late or truly missing.

Sandy