This pair of Variegated Fritillaries, Euptoieta claudia, is trying to get a jump on the competition. We generally don't see them around much until April. Purple passionflower, Passiflora incarnata, generally serves as the hostplant for the caterpillars and I haven't seen any of that in leaf yet.
2 comments:
My passion flower just released its first bloom, and has 17 more about to follow suit.
I keep hoping that it will be host to caterpillars and butterflies. However I've seen three caterpillars on it now, and they all seem to disappear before too long. At first I blamed the birds, but now I'm thinking it may be the wasp getting them.
nfmgirl,
It will be quite a while before our passion flowers start to bloom. And you just might be right about your caterpillars -- a wasp or two could be taking advantage of them.
Post a Comment