Hundreds and hundreds of these were eating the leaves, no, I should say gobbling the leaves, on a passion flower vine. I took this photo in a campground and I noticed them when I went back a second time after taking a photograph of the flower a few days earlier.
I kept it in a jar, feeding it more leaves I plucked from the vine almost daily for over a week. Finally, I had to release it because we were leaving to return home.
I have now learned that it is a larvae of the fritillary butterfly. The passion flower vine is one of several possible host plants for the fritillary butterflies.
Here is a picture (not taken by me) of this beautiful butterfly.
Here is a photograph I took, not knowing what kind of butterfly it was. There were thousands flying over the ocean beaches! Eureka!
You kept it without knowing what it was? And fed it? You are so brave! I'm glad it was a future butterfly! Hubby and I are so careful when we go for our walks now not to step on any fuzzy catepillars (sp?). Today at work, there were hundreds of butterflies of all colors circling and settling on Lantana. I had to grab my phone camera and snap a couple of pictures, but the sun was so bright, I couldn't even tell what I was shooting...if the butterflies were in the picture or not. I did get a couple. I need to upload them to see if they are any good.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful butterfly!
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