Even though we failed to find very many Gulf Fritillary (Augraulis vanillae) eggs or caterpillars on 6/15's trip down to El Cerrito's Ohlone Greenway at Lincoln Ave., the butterfly that we caught is now laying away! On Wednesday, after we were only able to collect a single newborn caterpillar that we ended losing before bringing it home, we were pretty disappointed. And even though we had managed to catch a butterfly, we were skeptical that we would be able to get anything out of it since we didn't even have any potted passionflower (the caterpillar's host plant) and were inexperienced with getting this species to lay eggs in captivity. Heck, we were scared that it may not have even been a female at first since the Gulf Fritillaries that we saw were always chasing each other in what could have been male territorial behavior. When we first caught the butterfly, we just used it to take pictures and didn't really have any intention of seriously getting it to lay eggs for us. In fact, for a while we just left it rest in a plastic food jar and didn't really do anything with it at all. But a few days later when we accidentally picked a few extra passionflower leaves for the two caterpillars we found on 6/16, we decided to give it a go anyway just to see what would happen. The only experience we have had really with getting butterflies to lay eggs in captivity is with Anise Swallowtails (P. zelicaon). After hand-pairing them, we just trap them around a host plant with some screening and watch them go crazy when the sun is out and warms them up. They wouldn't lay any eggs any other set up. So, if the Gulf Fritillaries required similar conditions to squeeze the eggs out, we clearly weren't doing the right thing by simply dumping a few not very fresh leaf cuttings into a tiny container where it barely even has any room to fly in. Plus, we were keeping it inside where there is less natural light. However, what we found was quite different from what we had expected. . . After a day or two after we carelessly shoved in a few passionflower leaves into the enclosure, we were surprised to discover that our butterfly had begun to lay eggs -- lots of them. By the time it died today (bad mistake to put the container out into the sun where it actually overheated the butterfly), it had layed 31 eggs which isn't too shabby for one butterfly. Certainly more than we would ever find in the wild at once at this time. Apparently, she didn't need any space to fly around while she was laying and just sat there. No heat or light required either and it didn't matter how undesirable the leaves may have seemed to us. It was too easy! An now if only we could catch a few more female butterflies. . . Gulf Fritillary Laying an Egg (1)* * Shown in 0.125x speed Gulf Fritillary Laying an Egg (2) - Brian
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Timeline 2012–2017
Albany, California This timeline is a series of daily posts recording our observations on and experiences with various insects in Albany California and surrounding areas, from 2012-2017. Since we did not publish this site until 2016, posts before that were constructed retroactively. Starting in August 2017, we moved to Ithaca, New York; posts from there on can be viewed at Timeline 2017-present: Ithaca, New York. Archives (1,011)
August 2017 (49) July 2017 (121) June 2017 (79) May 2017 (77) April 2017 (91) March 2017 (35) February 2017 (12) January 2017 (10) December 2016 (12) November 2016 (26) October 2016 (49) September 2016 (84) August 2016 (94) July 2016 (99) June 2016 (53) May 2016 (21) April 2016 (4) January 2016 (1) August 2015 (3) July 2015 (3) June 2015 (2) June 2014 (3) May 2014 (1) April 2014 (3) March 2014 (3) December 2013 (2) November 2013 (2) October 2013 (5) September 2013 (11) August 2013 (15) July 2013 (9) June 2013 (5) May 2013 (4) April 2013 (3) March 2013 (2) February 2013 (3) January 2013 (2) December 2012 (2) November 2012 (1) October 2012 (2) September 2012 (2) August 2012 (5) July 2012 (1) June 2012 (1) Authors
![]() ![]() Full Species List (Alphabetical by scientific name) Note: - Not every species we encounter is necessarily presented on this site, rather a selection of those that were of particular interest to us and that we felt were worth documenting. - We can't guarantee that all species have been identified accurately, particularly taxa we are not as familiar with. Lepidoptera Actias luna Adelpha californica Agraulis vanillae Allancastria cerisyi Antheraea mylitta Antheraea polyphemus Anthocharis sara Argema mimosae Attacus atlas Battus philenor hirsuta Bombyx mori Caligo atreus Callosamia promethea Coenonympha tullia california Citheronia regalis Cricula trifenestrata Danaus plexippus Eacles imperialis Erynnis tristis Estigmene acrea Eumorpha achemon Eupackardia calleta Furcula cinereoides Heliconius erato Heliconius hecale Heliconius sapho Heliconius sara Hyalophora cecropia Hyalophora columbia Hyalophora euryalus Hylephila phyleus Hyles lineata Junonia coenia Langia zenzeroides formosana Lophocampa maculata Manduca sexta Morpho peleides Nymphalis antiopa Orgyia vetusta Orthosia hibisci quenquefasciata Pachysphinx modesta Papilio cresphontes Papilio eurymedon Papilio glaucus Papilio machaon oregonius Papilio multicaudata Papilio polyxenes asterius Papilio rumiko Papilio rutulus Papilio zelicaon Phyciodes mylitta Phyciodes pulchella Pieris rapae Plejebus acmon Poanes melane Polites sabuleti Polygonia satyrus Pyrgus communis Rothschildia jacobaeae Samia cynthia advena Samia ricini Smerinthus cerisyi Smerinthus ophthalmica Strymon melinus Trichoplusia ni Uresephita reversalis Vanessa annabella Vanessa atalanta Vanessa cardui Unidentified Lepidoptera Hybrids Papilio glaucus × Papilio rutulus Papilio polyxenes asterius × Papilio zelicaon Orthoptera Melanoplus devastator Phaneroptera nana Pristoceuthophilus pacificus Scudderia mexicana Trimerotropis pallidipennis Phasmatodea Carausius morosus Phyllium giganteum Mantodea Mantis religiosa Phyllocrania paradoxa Hymenoptera Apis mellifera Bombus vosnesenskii Brachymeria ovata Linepithema humile Pediobius sp. Polistes dominula Xylocopa varipuncta Unidentified Diptera Lucilia sericata Unidentified Hemiptera Brochymena sp. Leptoglossus sp. Nezara viridula Odonata Argia vivida Libellula croceipennis Coleoptera Coccinella septempunctata Cycloneda polita Diabrotica undecimpunctata Hippodamia convergens Araneae (Class: Arachnida) Araneus diadematus Phidippus johnsoni |