Today when we were down at Tilden Regional Park (Berkeley, CA), we found a handful of Red Admiral caterpillars (Vanessa atalanta) as well as a chrysalis, making our third Vanessa. Alameda County and much of the East Bay is home to only four species of Vanessa: the Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui), the West Coast Lady (Vanessa annabella), the American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis), and the Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta). The Vanessas are classic brush-footed butterflies (Nymphalidae) in that they are migratory, or exhibit a systematic dispersal of adults throughout the year. The world famous Painted Lady (literally the most widely distributed, cosmopolitan butterfly on the planet) fluctuate greatly from year to year in our region, only showing up in swarms in outbreak years; most years we rarely see in urban Albany, especially during the summer. The West Coast Lady it perhaps the most common of the four in Albany and often breed in the winter in urban areas (they too are less common during the warmer months). American Ladies, on the other hand are quite rare and are rarely at all, if ever, seen in the Albany portion of Alameda. Lastly, the Red Admiral, though also fairly common and more abundant in the cooler months, is more commonly seen in very urban areas (i.e San Francisco) and is hard to find in the larval stage since its host plants (Urticaceae) seem to be quite rare here. Based on these profiles, it is easy to understand what we have and have not reared over the years. In the past, we have consistently collected huge numbers of West Coast Ladies during the winter and have had great success rearing them. The Painted Lady have managed to sneak in very occasionally with our West Coast Ladies while searching on the latter's favored mallow host plants (Malvaceae) and on 7/9 we found two caterpillars on milk thistle (Silybum marianum) at Tilden Regional Park in Berkeley, CA. Of course, we have never found an American Lady to this day. But the Red Admiral should have still been possible. . . Today when we went to Tilden to pick pipevine leaves (Aristolochia californica) for our Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars (Battus philenor), we decided to investigate the area around the riparian corridor on which the pipevine was growing. The most common nettle utilized by the Red Admiral is stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) is a common component of the riparian environment due to its need for moist soil. Sure enough, we found stinging nettle growing along the banks of the (mostly dried) creek as well as the nearby butterfly garden. Although it was in the evening (8 PM) and the sun was setting, we still had a chance to investigate the nettles (We were not prepared to do this though and had only a plastic bag to use as a glove to protect us from being stung!). Very quickly, we noticed that the plant was or had been inhabited by Vanessa caterpillars. They were covered in their little rolled up leaf nests filled with frass. Despite the fact that there were so many, most were quite obviously empty because the caterpillars make new nests with each molt, or when they have finished eating the leaf. But some of the larger, less eaten nests were more hopeful. Upon opening one of these, we were pleasantly surprised to find a Red Admiral chrysalis embedded neatly within the silken nest; the caterpillar had decided to pupate right there on the plant! It was quite clearly that of a Red Admiral and not a Painted Lady, the only other Vanessa that would potentially feed on nettle due to the blunt head and stout body (Painted Lady chrysalises are a bit pointy at the head and elongated). Looking around for more, we gathered a total of six caterpillars, five of which were fifth instar. Because it was getting dark, it was difficult to search for eggs, though we are sure that they are there because when we got home we discovered one on a leaf that we picked! It is lucky that we also have a Painted Lady chrysalis currently as well so that we can use it to compare the chrysalises and butterflies of the two related species. However, it would have been even better if we had a West Coast Lady instead because, between the West Coast Lady and the Painted Lady, the West Coast Lady resembles the Red Admiral much more and is more closely related (there have been reports of them hybridizing in regions where their populations overlap such as in California!). However, like all Vanessas, the caterpillar and butterfly appearance can vary hugely within the species itself (there are many recognized aberrations, too) so any comparison would be meager without a larger sample size. Nonetheless, the pictures of the chrysalises are shown below; the right in each image is the Painted Lady and the left is the Red Admiral. The third image shows an emerged West Coast Lady chrysalis to the far right. - 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 |