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Posts Tagged: gulf fritillary butterfly
Made for Each Other
What a perfect match when a Gulf Fritillary butterfly touches down on a blanket flower. They're both reddish-orange and showy. Last weekend we spotted a Gulf Fritillary butterfly (Agraulis vanillae) land momentarily on a blanket flower (Gaillardia), in...
Gulf Fritillary touches down on a blanket flower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Getting ready for takeoff. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
And away it goes! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
We're Not Perfect
We're not perfect. Mother Nature isn't, either. For several weeks, we've been rearing Gulf Fritilliary butterflies (Agraulis vanillae). We purchased a butterfly habitat from the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis, salvaged some...
A crippled Gulf Fritillary butterfly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A possible mate checks out the crippled butterfly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
We placed the crippled Gulf Fritillary on a zinnia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Just Emerged: Gulf Fritillary Butterfly
Call it serendipity. Call it a prize from the sky. Frankly, it's not every day that a newly emerged Gulf Fritillary butterfly, Agraulis vanillae, lands at your feet. It crawled from its chrysalis, hinged to a eight-foot high tree limb near our...
Newly emerged Gulf Fritillary butterfly, fresh from its chrysalis, lands on a bed of wood chips. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gulf Fritillary starts to stir. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gulf Fritillary drying off on a passionflower vine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gulf Fritillary slightly opens its wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
First opening of the wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Another butterfly comes down to investigate. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
One last spread of the wings, and it's off. It's a male.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
It All Begins with an Egg
It's no surprise that students as young as kindergarteners are eager to learn about the life cycle of a butterfly--from an egg, to a caterpillar to a chrysalis to an adult. Complete metamorphosis. Complete awe. In our yard, the Gulf Fritillary...
Tiny Gulf Fritillary butterfly egg at end of a tendril on a passionflower vine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A very hungry caterpillar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A chrysalis: soon a butterfly will emerge. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
An adult Gulf Fritillary. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
It's a Girl!
At last! From an egg to a caterpillar to a chrysalis to a butterfly. And it's a girl! For several days we've been protecting a Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) chryalis on our passionflower vine (Passiflora) from predators. It works like this:...
Female Gulf Fritillary butterfly dries her wings after emerging from her chrysalis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Newly emerged Gulf Fritillary butterfly hangs on the fence. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A suitor approaches the female. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Almost engaged. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Mating Gulf Fritillary butterflies. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The female is doing a post-coital stretch, according to butterfly expert Art Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis. "She's a tad oddly marked, too." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
