Previous entries...

Friday, May 7

I found a name for the caterpillar after an hour long search!

Mourning Cloak Caterpillar and Butterfly

I took these pictures from the internet once I identified the caterpillar. I am going to take some pictures once the butterfly arrives. - There can be a difference in color- depending on the different U.S. regions, so it will be neat to see what we will get.
Mourning Cloak Caterpillar and Butterfly
Nymphalis antiopa
Brush-footed Butterflies
Identification: Short projections on both wings, borders irregular. Upperside is purple-black with a wide, bright yellow border on outer margins, and a row of iridescent blue spots at the inner edge of the border.
Life history: Overwintered adults mate in the spring, the males perching in sunny openings during the afternoon to wait for receptive females. Eggs are laid in groups circling twigs of the host plant. Caterpillars live in a communal web and feed together on young leaves, then pupate and emerge as adults in June or July. After feeding briefly, the adults estivate until fall, when they re-emerge to feed and store energy for hibernation. Some adults migrate south in the fall. Flight: Usually one flight from June-July.
Wing span: 2 1/4 - 4 inches (5.7 - 10.1 cm).
Caterpillar hosts: Willows, also American elm, cottonwood, aspen, paper birch, and hackberry . Older caterpillars wander about and may be found on plants that they do not eat.
Adult food: Mourning Cloaks prefer tree sap, especially that of oaks. They walk down the trunk to the sap and feed head downward. They will also feed on rotting fruit, and only occasionally on flower nectar.
Habitat: Because Mourning Cloaks roam and migrate, they are found almost anywhere that host plants occur including woods, openings, parks, and suburbs; and especially in riparian areas. Range: All of North America south of the tundra to central Mexico; rarely in the Gulf States and peninsular Florida. Also native to temperate Eurasia.
Comments: Adults live 10-11 months and may be our longest lived butterfly.
Conservation: Not required.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nana says,
Now that's a pretty butterfly!