Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Swallowtail caterpillar in my garden
I found it yesterday on a volunteer dill plant that grew up in the pole
beans. I thought it was a Monarch; they look very similar. Today it has almost doubled in size already, and the dill plant is just about gone. I might need to move it to another dill plant, or that 5 foot tall carrot plant that is blooming. I don't know if they like to be moved... It's not gonna eat my beans if I leave it alone and it runs out of dill, will it? The beans would be a nice protected place for it to pupate. It's odd that there's just one. Bob |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Swallowtail caterpillar in my garden
zxcvbob wrote in
: I found it yesterday on a volunteer dill plant that grew up in the pole beans. I thought it was a Monarch; they look very similar. Today it has almost doubled in size already, and the dill plant is just about gone. I might need to move it to another dill plant, or that 5 foot tall carrot plant that is blooming. I don't know if they like to be moved... It's not gonna eat my beans if I leave it alone and it runs out of dill, will it? The beans would be a nice protected place for it to pupate. It's odd that there's just one. it will prefer dill if it spent it's first couple instars on dill. it may eat the carrot (or Queen Anne's Lace), but i've found they really prefer the original food plant they started on. it won't touch your beans. swallowtails deposit eggs one at a time on several different plants in a 50-100' radius (maybe even wider. i am basing this on my observatios in my yard, which has a lot of swallowtail host plants). it's a good survival stratagy since only one caterpiller per food plant means they're both harder for predators to find & also likely to each have enough to eat. does your caterpiller have the stinky orange horns that pop out when touched? lee -- Last night while sitting in my chair I pinged a host that wasn't there It wasn't there again today The host resolved to NSA. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Swallowtail caterpillar in my garden
enigma wrote:
zxcvbob wrote in : I found it yesterday on a volunteer dill plant that grew up in the pole beans. I thought it was a Monarch; they look very similar. Today it has almost doubled in size already, and the dill plant is just about gone. I might need to move it to another dill plant, or that 5 foot tall carrot plant that is blooming. I don't know if they like to be moved... It's not gonna eat my beans if I leave it alone and it runs out of dill, will it? The beans would be a nice protected place for it to pupate. It's odd that there's just one. it will prefer dill if it spent it's first couple instars on dill. it may eat the carrot (or Queen Anne's Lace), but i've found they really prefer the original food plant they started on. it won't touch your beans. swallowtails deposit eggs one at a time on several different plants in a 50-100' radius (maybe even wider. i am basing this on my observatios in my yard, which has a lot of swallowtail host plants). it's a good survival stratagy since only one caterpiller per food plant means they're both harder for predators to find & also likely to each have enough to eat. does your caterpiller have the stinky orange horns that pop out when touched? lee I couldn't find him this afternoon. He's either moved on, or been eaten by a bird. I looked on the nearby (very nearby) dill plants too. Bob |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Swallowtail caterpillar in my garden
zxcvbob wrote in
: I couldn't find him this afternoon. He's either moved on, or been eaten by a bird. I looked on the nearby (very nearby) dill plants too. if he was around 1.25" long when you saw him, he's gone now because he's pupated it's unlikely a bird ate it, as the stinky horns also taste bad. my chickens leave them alone & not much gets by them. lee -- Last night while sitting in my chair I pinged a host that wasn't there It wasn't there again today The host resolved to NSA. |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Swallowtail caterpillar in my garden
enigma wrote:
zxcvbob wrote in : I couldn't find him this afternoon. He's either moved on, or been eaten by a bird. I looked on the nearby (very nearby) dill plants too. if he was around 1.25" long when you saw him, he's gone now because he's pupated I thought that might be the case, because that's how big it was yesterday. They don't bury in the ground do they? Bob |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Swallowtail caterpillar in my garden
zxcvbob wrote in
: enigma wrote: zxcvbob wrote in : I couldn't find him this afternoon. He's either moved on, or been eaten by a bird. I looked on the nearby (very nearby) dill plants too. if he was around 1.25" long when you saw him, he's gone now because he's pupated I thought that might be the case, because that's how big it was yesterday. They don't bury in the ground do they? some do, yes. lee -- Last night while sitting in my chair I pinged a host that wasn't there It wasn't there again today The host resolved to NSA. |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Swallowtail caterpillar in my garden
On Wed, 9 Jul 2008 12:36:40 +0000 (UTC), enigma
wrote: zxcvbob wrote in : enigma wrote: zxcvbob wrote in : I couldn't find him this afternoon. He's either moved on, or been eaten by a bird. I looked on the nearby (very nearby) dill plants too. if he was around 1.25" long when you saw him, he's gone now because he's pupated I thought that might be the case, because that's how big it was yesterday. They don't bury in the ground do they? some do, yes. lee There are several types of swallowtail butterflies. I suspect you have a Black Swallowtail though. Maybe: http://home.att.net/~larvalbugbio/swallowtails.html http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=1356 http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/cimg266.html If so the scientific name is "Papilio polyxenes asterius". Use that and a search engine and you can find a lot more info. -- Leon Fisk Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b Remove no.spam for email |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Swallowtail caterpillar in my garden
I've been watching two similar caterpillars on some parley we have in
a pot on our deck. One caterpillar was larger than the other and just yesterday I noticed it crawling out of the pot. I followed it across the deck (it "jumped" off the edge) and it crawled into a dense planting of climbing hydrangea. I expect it will be pupating in there. After another day of eating, the second caterpillar is almost as big as the first one, so I'm expecting it to crawl off soon. I was lucky to catch the first one in the act of making his get away. -- michael |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Mr Tomato Head and Swallowtail caterpillar | Gardening | |||
caterpillar - caterpillar.jpg (1/1) | Garden Photos | |||
caterpillar - caterpillar.jpg (0/1) | Garden Photos |