Getting Started with a Tampa Butterfly Garden

A butterfly garden requires a good mix of butterfly nectar and host plants so that butterflies will not only be attracted to your garden for a drink, but they will also lay eggs. This will provide a location for the entire butterfly lifecycle to occur. Native plants not only encourage better habitats for butterflies but also reduce the costs of watering.

Host Plants:

Host plants are plants on which butterflies will lay their eggs. Butterflies are specialists, and their larvae can only consume certain types of plants per species. Here is a list of some common butterflies in the Tampa Bay area and which host plants they will use for their caterpillars. Add some of these plants to your yard to create a butterfly factory.

• Monarch: Milkweed (Asclepias currasavica)
• Queen: Milkweed (Asclepias currasavica)
• Zebra Longwing : Passionvine (Passiflora incarnata)
• Gulf Fritillary: Passionvine (Passiflora incarnata)
• Orange Barred Sulphur: Cassia (Cassia bicapsularis)
• Cloudless Sulphur: Cassia (Cassia bicapsularis)
• Polydamas Swallowtail: Piepvines (Aristolochia gigantea)
• Pipevine Swallowtail: Pipevines (Arisotlochia trilobata)
• Spicebush Swallowtail: Camphor (Cinnamomum camphora) & Red Bay (Persea borbonia)
• Giant Swallowtail: Hercules Club (Zanthoxylum clava-herculis), Various Citrus, Wild Lime (Zanthoxylum fagara)
• Eastern Black Swallowtail: Parsley, Dill, Fennel Various
• Red Admiral False Nettle (Boehmeria cylindrica)
• White Peacock Lemon Bacopa (Bacopa caroliniana)
• Long Tailed Skipper: Legumes like beans or Beggars Tick (Desmodium lineatum)

Nectar Plants:

Nectar plants are used by most butterflies, but some types will attract more of one species of butterflies than others. It is helpful to have a variety of these available so that many species of butterflies will be drawn to your garden.

• Penta (Pentas lanceolatas)
• Lantana (Lantana camara)
• Golden Dewdrop (Duranta)
• Salvia (Salvia coccinea)
• Porterweed (Stachytarpheta)
• Butterfly Bush (Buddleia)
• Firebush (Hamelia patens)
• Asters (Aster sp.)
• Blazing star (Liatris spicata)

Book Resources:

• Florida’s Fabulous Butterflies
  • Author: Thomas C. Emmel, Brian Kenney
  • ISBN: 0911977155
• Caterpillars of Eastern North America
  • Author: David L Wagner
  • ISBN: 0-691-12144-3
• Florida Butterfly Gardening
  • Author: Marc Minno, Maria Minno, Diane Pierce
  • ISBN: 0813016657
• Your Florida Guide to Butterfly Gardening
  • Author: Jaret C. Daniels
  • ISBN: 0813017904

Web Resources:

• NSiS Native Butterfly Gardening:
  • http://www.nsis.org/butterfly/butterfly.html
• Florida Gardener
  • http://www.floridagardener.com/butterflies/butterflyplants.htm
• BioWorks Butterfly Garden @ MOSI
  • http://www.mosi.org/bioworks.html

Learning More:

Many wonderful resources exist for butterfly gardening in the state of Florida, and especially in the Tampa Bay area. If you are interested to learn about rearing butterflies or sharing your interest in these creatures with others, consider volunteering with the BioWorks Butterfly Garden at MOSI. We are currently seeking butterfly enthusiasts for the following volunteer positions:

Volunteer Garden Assistant: Garden assistants will be occupied with tasks of grounds keeping, plant maintenance, weeding, potting, watering and some cleaning tasks such as floor sweeping and cleaning of signage. Garden assistants will work mostly outside, including in summer and winter months.

Volunteer Butterfly Assistant: Butterfly assistants will be occupied with rearing larvae, pinning chrysalises, lab cleaning, lab maintenance, data recording, and helping to maintain a healthy population of butterflies. Insect collection will require some out-of-doors work especially in summer months to collect butterflies and host plants used within the rearing lab.

Volunteer BioWorks Presenter: Presenters will be occupied with answering questions and providing information on garden topics of water conservation, horticulture, and butterflies. These presenters are our front line butterfly enthusiasts who work to inspire guests of all ages to learn more

Interested in volunteering? Please contact Kristen Gilpin, the MOSI Butterfly Keeper at (813) 987-6357 or email kristeng@mosi.org

Caterpillars in the garden.

This article from Bay Soundings talks about planting a garden not only for butterflies but also for caterpillars. I'm quoted... a lot!

Butterfly Gardens Need Caterpillar Food Too!
by: Victoria Parsons

A White Season

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Today’s post is a review of the color white from 2009 in the MOSI gardens.

Something about white flowers is so lovely, maybe it is their often beautiful fragrances that waft about the gardens or perhaps just the stark perfection of something so clean and graceful occurring in nature.

Highlights include Checkered White Butterfly, Spanish Needles, Liriope flowers, Cape Jasmine, Magnolia Blooms, Flowing Shiny Leafed Coffee, Aloysia and more.

What is your favorite white found in your garden?

An Orange Season

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This season there has been a bounty of colors abounding in the MOSI gardens so this week I’d like to review some of the highlights from a really fantastic season.

Today I am starting with one of my favorite eye-popping colors, orange. Sometimes fiery, sometimes feathery, orange is always a treat in the garden. Butterflies and hummingbirds seem inexorably drawn to this brilliant color and I can’t help but linger a little longer tending to orange flowers. This photo album features Firebush, Amaryllis, Lion’s Ear, Milkweed, Zinnia, Mexican Flamevine, Seville Oranges, Gulf Fritillary caterpillars and more.

What is your favorite orange in the garden?

Rearing caterpillars at home

I get a lot of questions from butterfly enthusiasts who want to rear caterpillars at home and would like some instruction. My first response is usually to suggest rearing caterpillars outside in their gardens where natural processes can occur. A sad fact is that some caterpillars will be the victims of predation. In nature, butterflies and moths are near the edges of the food web and are important sources of nutrition for many animals. However, I understand the mystery of metamorphosis and love sharing that process with children and families.

The Challenges

Caterpillars can be challenging to rear because they are so well adapted to their environment. By brining them inside you introduce a whole new set of challenges for the caterpillars to overcome. Yes, they may be safer from predators, but consider these factors before bringing your caterpillars inside.

A caterpillar found wandering through a yard will probably make a poor candidate for indoor rearing. Unless you are certain what species of caterpillar you are dealing with, you will not know what host plants they require. Many caterpillars are specialists and can only consume a few species of plants. Try instead to find eggs on a plant like milkweed that will probably hatch into Monarchs or Queens. This way you know the species and the host plant to start and that will very much help your rearing experience. A wandering caterpillar may be looking for a new food source or may be looking for a nice place to pupate so take some pictures and let the larvae continue on its way.

Seven Days a Week: Caterpillars require attention every day. They don’t stop eating on weekends and don’t stop pooping while you are at work. Expect to spend about half an hour with your bugs each day.

Hungry Bugs: Caterpillars eat a lot. Take the amount you expect them to eat and triple it. By putting them in a tank you keep caterpillars from being able to wander to look for more food sources if they run out. This will require lots of plant material. After just one day you can expect that the nice fresh plant material that you added that morning or the previous night will look like the plants pictured in this photo. If left without food caterpillars may sicken or may begin to consume chrysalises of other caterpillars. This is pretty yucky and tough to explain to kids.

Toxins: Often, new plants purchased from a nursery may be treated with a biological pesticide agent even if they have not been “sprayed” with a commercial insecticide. In case you have to purchase more plants in the middle of caterpillar rearing, make sure you have located a small butterfly friendly nursery before hand and have talked with their staff about what you are doing. Household cleaners, even dishwashing soap, can sicken your caterpillars. You have to be mindful of any foreign agent that may contact your bugs.

Environmental Changes: By moving caterpillars into a tank or screen enclosure, you remove them from their habitat and sometimes it is more difficult for them to survive. By bringing the insects inside the temperature and humidity of their environment changes drastically which can sometimes have negative effects. Too low humidity can cause chrysalises to dry out. High humidity can lead to mold and fungal growth and rotting plant material.

Crowding and Disease: In a tank environment caterpillars are often more crowded than they are in the wild which makes them susceptible to a host of diseases they might otherwise never encounter. Caterpillars eat an enormous amount of food and produce endless amounts of frass (a nice way to say caterpillar poop). This frass can host diseases, grow mold of fungus if left too wet and should be removed daily.

Dormancy: Caterpillars and chrysalis that encounter a lower temperature suddenly may slow down and enter a type of dormancy called diapause. Caterpillars need an airy, well-lit environment that has a similar temperature to what they are accustomed.

The Basics of Caterpillars Rearing

Setting up a tank: What seems to work best for us here is to collect the live plant on which the eggs have been laid and to keep the stem in fresh water to make it last as long as possible. We cut plant stems and immediately place them into a water container (a yogurt cup with a small X cut into the lid works nicely) and change the water or re-cut the stem as needed to keep the plant fresh. By the time the plant wilts the caterpillar should be hatched and you can introduce new food plants.

Minimizing contact: Caterpillars can be fragile and sometimes likes to hold on to their host plants for dear life. By draping fresh stems over the wilting plant you will encourage the caterpillar to move to the fresher plant material with minimal contact.

Cleanliness: Once the caterpillar hatches and begins to eat, it is very important to clean their tank regularly. Use newspaper at the bottom of the tank so that waste can be removed quickly and clean the tank about once daily. Remove the paper, wash the tank with water and a sponge only (soap residue can coat a caterpillars body and make breathing difficult), put in a clean paper liner and replace the caterpillar and food plants. Wash your hands before and after dealing with larvae, especially if you will be handling another type of larvae afterwards. In between use all items that go into the tanks or contact the bugs are thoroughly cleaned and left to dry.

Small numbers: Limit a tank to smaller numbers of caterpillars with lots of available food to limit problems.

Photo credit for photos in this post goes to MOSI Outside Volunteer Patti W.

A Giant Among Swallowtails

The Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) is a wonderful example of the obvious naming conventions among lepidopterans as it has swallow-tails and indeed is gigantic. 

Giant Swallowtails start life as a tiny, spherical orange egg laid on the newest and freshest growth of their host plants. From that tiny egg emerges a caterpillars that is equal parts remarkable and unusual.

The caterpillars do all their best to look shiny, wet, mottled and well, a whole lot like bird poop. In the world of insects there are a few ways to avoid being eaten: don’t be seen at all, be toxic, look like something toxic, look big, or look like something your predator already ate and discarded. It seems that birds are perfectly disinterested in further study of something they have already gotten rid of. This tactic, along with hosting on what I like to call “Unfriendly plants” (you know, the ones that are covered in spines and thorns) helps these caterpillars remain among the living.

The caterpillars also have a backup defense mechanism called osmeterium. Osmeterium are a fleshy organ where caterpillars of swallowtail species sequester essential oils from their host plants, also known as terpenes. These oils coat the normally hidden osmeterium which can be everted or pushed out when the caterpillar is threatened. The osmetierium are usually a bright warning color like red, yellow or orange and because of the terpenes smell quite foul. Have to move swallowtail caterpillars to new host plants also means that butterfly growers get their share of osmeterium love as the caterpillars arch backwards wildly, smearing predators faces and keepers hands alike with gross smelling oils. Each species has its own unique odor based upon what plants the caterpillar has been eating.

The adult butterflies are anywhere from 4 to 5.5 inches and wingspan and are bright yellow on their under-wings. Giant Swallowtails are a common sight throughout Florida as their host plants are abundant throughout the state. Giant females will deposit their eggs on the new growth of several types of tree in the citrus family and a few other species that are closely related to citrus. If you have a young citrus tree in your yard look for eggs to appear on the young, fresh leaves. Giants will host on lemon, lime, tangerine, orange, and sour orange just to name a few. Because of their taste for citrus, Giant Swallowtails are considered a minor agricultural pest in the state of Florida. The larvae are unlikely to truly defoliate their host plants and tend to not be much of a problem.

Giant Swallowtails also host on several Florida native trees that are closely related to citrus. Wild Lime (Zanthoxylum fagara) pictured to the left is also known as Cat’s Claw. The branches are covered in fine thorns that curve just like a cat claw. If you have ever had a run-in with a kitty, you probably know how uncomfortable those claws can be. Take care working around this plant as it tends to snag skin and clothing alike. However, as a Florida native it is well suited to our peculiar and temperamental climate and thrives in Tampa Bay gardens. In the MOSI gardens, Giant Swallowtails pass up nearby citrus and prefer to lay eggs on Wild Lime.

Hercules Club (Zanthoxylum clava-herculis) is another Florida native host. This tree has a spiky trunk and is often found in coastal areas. Ft. De Soto park has Hercules Club growing all over the site, including on top op the fort itself. Known also as Toothache Tree, a single leaf of Hercules Club when chewed and spit out can numb your entire mouth. That isn’t to say that it tastes great, because it certainly does not. 

So that’s the Tampa Bay story for the Giant Swallowtail, a butterfly that holds the impressive title of largest butterfly in North America

Blazing Star

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Well, it was certainly worth the wait! The Blazing Star has started to bloom and it is glorious.

Blazing star (Liatris) is an American native perennial which produces tall bottle-brush stems of purple flowers in the late summer/ early fall. Although there is a number of Blazing Star plant in the Backwoods Forest Preserve, the MOSI gardens only gained these plants in the past year. These gorgeous flowers were planted in the Flatwoods Garden this past spring when they just looked like tiny clumps of grass.

Liatris is attractive to butterflies and bees and is currently humming with bee activity underneath the Olustee Longleaf Pine

Technorati Tags: nectar plant,tree grove

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Milkweeds in flower

  Scarlet Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) is a common sight in Florida butterfly gardens even though it isn’t a Florida native plant. The truth is that Scarlet Milkweed is readily abundant for purchase and is also a snap to grow. Monarchs and Queen butterflies will both host on it and the plant is pretty attractive when actually in bloom. Although it is from South American, Scarlet Milkweed is a lot more simple to find for purchase than any of the Florida native milkweeds. Although susceptible to aphids and sooty mold, most Scarlet Milkweeds bounce back with little damage to the plant. When in flower this milkweed produces a beautiful scarlet and orange flower that is truly eye-catching.

Another milkweed in the MOSI gardens is known as Giant Milkweed (Calotropis gigantea) syn (Asclepias procera) and the name is certainly apt as the plants can grow two to five meters in height. This plant is native to Africa, the Arabian peninsula and southeast Asia. Monarchs and Queens don’t readily lay eggs on this plant but the caterpillars can be transferred in the case that your other milkweed supplies run out. The flowers of this giant like a great deal like small purple starfish.

After the Bugs of Summer are Gone

It is Autumn in the MOSI butterfly gardens and although it still feels like summer there are changes to be made to best attract autumn butterflies. In the Fall we start to see different species in greater numbers than in summer. Here is a quick guide to some of the common autumn species for west central Florida and the plants that help attract them to an autumn garden.

Butterfly gardens need to be planted with both host plants and nectar plants to best serve the needs of your butterfly population. Having nectar plants means you have a butterfly garden. Adding host plants almost guarantees you a butterfly factory.

Butterflies of Autumn and their Larval Plants

The Milkweed Butterflies: Monarch and Queens are just as common in the fall as in summer and sometimes fare better with the slightly lower temperatures. Monarchs and Queens both host on milkweeds. Scarlet Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) is the most common commercial milkweed to be found in stores and both species will host on it. Aphids can be a problem on milkweeds but instead of using a pesticide, try using your hose nozzle at close range to knock the aphids loose. Monarch caterpillars have fleshy antenna-like tubercles at both ends of their bodies and Queen larvae have three sets of tubercles, one at each end and an extra pair near their head end. You’ll also notice that Queens eat slower than Monarchs who are defiantly the dining champs among the butterflies.

The Heliconians: Zebra Longwings and Gulf Fritillary are both abundant during Autumn in the Tampa Bay Region. Plant passionvine (Passiflora) to attract these species to lay eggs in your garden. I recommend planting at least two plants, one in the sun and one in the shade. Zebra Longwings tend to prefer shaded plants for egg-laying. Avoid red passionvines as their glossy leaves are inedible to these caterpillars and stick with passionvine that have purple or purple and white flowers. Maypop (Passiflora incarnata) is a Florida native variety that is much beloved of these species.

The Sulphurs: Orange Barred Sulphurs, Cloudless Sulphurs and Sleepy Oranges are just a few of the common Autumn sulphur species. These species all host on various plants in the cassia family. In the Fall when these plants flower with bright yellow blossoms, caterpillars that eat the flowers turn yellow instead of their usual green color! Winter Cassia (Cassia bicapsularis) can become a very large shrub, so plant it in a place it can spread or be prepared for pruning. However, the blooms on cassia make it worth the effort every year.

The Whites: There are several species of white butterfly that can be found in the Autumn such as the Cabbage White, Checkered White and Great Florida White. These species host on greens in the mustard family like cabbages, mustard greens and collard greens. Try picking up a few of these greens not for food but for the butterflies. These butterflies can often be seen on roadsides and medians throughout Florida and host on a common weed called Peppergrass (Lepidium virginicum) or Poor Man’s Pepper that you may already have growing in your yard. If you have a fenced yard that your neighbors won’t complain about, consider letting a small patch of peppergrass go wild by mowing around it. It is amazing how many butterflies are drawn to common weeds.

Black Swallowtails: Black swallowtails begin to decline in the autumn but you can still find them through November and early December. Plant parsley, fennel or dill to attract them to lay eggs. Their eggs are tiny whitish globes that will often be found on the freshest growth of the hosts. When you buy plants from a nursery, even kitchen herbs, they have likely been treated with a biological insecticide which will render them inedible to caterpillars for a few weeks. If you have a green thumb, try growing some parsley or dill from seed to ensure that it will be pesticide free.

Polydamas Swallowtails: Polydamas Swallowtails will continue right through Autumn and into Winter and will be found so long as we don’t have a hard freeze. These caterpillars are voracious eaters that host on pipevines (Aristolochia). Pretty much any species of pipevine will satisfy their hunger and you’ll likely find clusters of golden yellow eggs in no time. Pipevines are in a vine and will need somewhere to grow but they are a great cover on a chain link fence and also work well on arbors or trellises. The flowers are really neat too.

Giant Swallowtail: Giants can still be found throughout the Fall. They host on a variety of Citrus like lemon and sour orange and also on Wild Lime (Zanthoxylum fagara) and Hercules Club (Zanthoxylum clava-herculis) , two Florida native trees that can be tricky to find. Both trees have spines so care should be taken when working around them. Giant Swallowtail eggs are orange spheres and their caterpillars look like shiny bird poop.

Autumn Nectar Plants

Try these Florida native Autumn nectar plants: Aster, Beach Sunflower, Black-Eyed Susan, Blazing Star, Blue Porterweed, Dalea, Firebush, Florida Paintbrush, Garberia, Goldenrod, Hibiscus, Lantana, Lobelia, Milkweed, Mistflower, Phlox, Sage, Spanish Needles, Stoke’s Aster, Sunflower, Tick-seed, Verbena

Try these non-native options for nectar plants: Buddliea, Golden Dewdrop, Heliotrope, Marigolds, Mexican Flamevine, Moss Verbena, Penta,

Some are easier to find than others, but take that list with you to the nursery and see what you can come up with. Some nurseries specialize in Florida native plant species and these are often preferred by butterflies. Ask at your nursery for recommendations because if it is blooming this season, chances are butterflies might enjoy it. Also, make sure to watch for which plants are drawing butterflies at your nursery. Those are sure to be winners.

Special thanks to reader Jennifer W. for suggesting this blog topic! If you have a topic you would like to see addressed, drop me a comment with your request!

Berry Good!

Autumn is putting on a lovely show of berries in the butterfly gardens at MOSI. Not only are these berries lovely, but they provide some excellent food four our local birds and critters. Here’s a few photos of the autumnal cornucopia of berries and fruits currently festooned about the gardens.

	Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria) is attractive to birds and squirrels, but not so much for humans. To humans holly berries are mildly toxic and may cause vomiting and/or diarrhea (check out the Latin name of this plant!) These trees are gorgeous when covered in their profuse red berries.
	Beauty Berry (Callicarpa americana) These gorgeous purple berries remain on the beauty berry well after all of its leaves have been dropped. These berries are very attractive to birds and can be a large part of their Fall diet. The fruits can also be made into a jam or syrup.
	Wild Coffee (Psychotria nervosa) Wild coffe is a Florida native with striking shiny leaves. These fruits seem to be a favorite of blue jays and cardinals. Early settlers in Florida brewed a coffee substitute drink from the seeds of this plant.
	Firebush (Hamelia patens) Although the red tinted foliage and brilliant orange trumpet flowers are fantastic in a garden, Firebush still has more to give. These berries start the same orange color as the flowers but ripen through red to a glossy black finish.
	Wax Myrtle (Myrica cerifera) are a favorite of squirrels who gnaw off the fruit laden branch tips and sit in the trees gorging themselves. When they finish they toss the branch tips down on the sidewalk. Such messy eaters! The waxy berries have a wonderful aroma.
	Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) Coral Honeysuckle is a great cover for a garden trellis and its trumpet blooms are attractive to both butterflies and the ruby-throated hummingbird. The bright red berries are great food for songbirds!
	Red Bay (Persea borbonia) Red bay is a gorgeous small evergreen tree of the Southeast United States. When these fruits (drupe) are ripe they will be a lovely shiny blue color. This tree has deliciously aromatic leaves that can be substituted for the leaves of bay laurel (Laurus nobilis),

Caterpillar Sleuthing part 2: The Reveal

Well, we have a winner in the mystery caterpillar department. A few days ago I posted about some unknown caterpillars dining on a Loblolly Bay and although we narrowed them down to a likely family of moths I still couldn’t say for certain what they were, until now.

I decided on the wait and watch approach and it paid off this morning. I came in to the lab to discover that several of the caterpillars had molted and had entirely new coloration. They in fact are Red Humped Caterpillars! I suggested that the shape of them was similar to this species but the coloring was just all wrong… well after a good shed it appears that the coloring is now all right.

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Awesome Donors: Wild Birds Unlimited

The MOSI butterfly garden grounds are home to a very popular bird feeder. On any given day you can see cardinals, bluejays, doves, mockingbirds, house finches, cat birds (like the one puffed up to the right), sparrows and numerous other songbirds hanging out at the feeder. Sometimes this snack stop gets so popular that birds have to wait in a nearby tree for their turn at the seed.

The MOSI birds a well fed and happy because of a generous MOSI donor. The feeder and the bird seed are provided by Wild Birds Unlimited of Tampa. The bird feeder is made entirely of recycled plastics and has a built in squirrel deterrent that leaves our furry pals scouring the ground rather than tossing through all of the seed. Honestly, I have never seen such beautiful bird seed! The mix is so thick with sunflower seeds that I am occasionally tempted to grab a handful for myself.

If you are a bird lover, drop by their store and check out some of their awesome bird products especially that amazing birdseed! You will likely be greeted by Max the cat and a world of supplies that will bring all the birds to your yard.

Wild Birds Unlimited

13140 N Dale Mabry Hwy

Tampa, FL 33618-2406

(813) 961-2772

http://www.wbu.com/

Caterpillar Sleuthing

A few days ago I spied a group of caterpillars eating the leaves of a Loblolly Bay tree. What's so interesting about that? I find caterpillars eating leaves all of the time, right? Well, when I checked to see what these caterpillars might be I discovered that Loblolly Bay isn't listed as a larval host for any caterpillars in particular. Well, that could slow down the identification process. So let's start with the host, which we know, and then move on to the caterpillars to try and solve this mystery.

Loblolly Bay


Loblolly Bay (Gordonia lasianthus) is an evergreen shrubby tree that grows about 36 to 80 feet in height and is native to the Southeast of North America. Each summer it blooms with fragrant white blossoms that could give a magnolia a run for its money. However, Loblolly Bay is actually a member of the Tea (Thaecea) family and its bark was once used in the process of tanning leather.

What's in a name?

• Loblolly Bay (Gordonia lasianthus)
• Genus Gordonia: name honors British nursreyman James Gordon (1728-91) and includes about 30 species most of which are located in southeastern Asia and Indomalaysia.
• Species lasianthus: name derives for the Latin for "hairy flowered".

Unknown Caterpillars: What do we know so far and what does it tell us?

The larvae are eating Loblolly Bay which is not a listed host for any caterpillars: Since the caterpillars are eating from a host plant what is not regularly associated with any known caterpillars, I immediately considered moths as a suspect. Most butterfly host plants in Florida are well documented and butterflies tend to be specialists, limited to a very small group of closely related host plants for each species. Loblolly Bay isn't related to Red Bay (Persea borbonia) or Sweetbay Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) so it likely wouldn't appeal to any of the butterflies that host on those trees. Moths tend to be much more generalist in their feeding habits, able to eat sometimes a very wide range of food plants. Some moths are known to host on more than 20 species of trees.

The larvae are feeding gregariously on their host plant: The caterpillars are feeding gregariously which may not point us in a direction to a particular species, but might help us to rule a species out later.

The caterpillars in question are yellow in color with black heads and spots and have long white lateral stripes the length of their bodies. There is a small but obvious hump on the backs of the caterpillars just below their heads: Looking at the physical characteristics of the caterpillar can be helpful next, but caterpillars can be incredibly variable in appearance. Caterpillars go through stages of development called instars which are marked by the shedding of their skin. From one instar to another caterpillars can change colors, lose or gain spots and tubercles, or even develop structures that look like antlers. The humped backs of this species is currently their most prominent feature and it reminded me of a few other caterpillars, namely Red Humped Caterpillars (Schizura concinna). Looking in to that species I found a group of moths called Prominents (Family Noctuoidea Subfamily Notodontida) many of which have a characteristic hump as a caterpillar in various stages.

And still, no answer:

Looking through every caterpillar guide I can find, I can't locate any photographs of species that look identical to our new friends. The only thing that is left to do is document the changes that happen as the caterpillars grow and progress through various instars to see if any of their new physical characteristics make for an easier identification. Stay tuned for new developments in this story of Caterpillar Detective.

Sweet Almond Bush

The dainty white flowers of the Sweet Almond Bush (Aloysia virgata) are just not done justice by a photograph. To love these blossoms you only have to stand within ten feet on them and inhale their sweet aroma. Also known as Incense Bush, Aloysia has an undeniably beautiful fragrance that has the power to draw people into the gardens from the parking lots searching for the source of such a remarkable scent.

Native to Argentina, this plant has an upright growth habit and can be pruned into a small tree-form. Without pruning it tends to be a fairly leggy large shrub. The blooms are attractive to a number of small butterflies and the scent is very sweet, making this one a nice addition to larger, rambling garden spaces.

An unknown skipper

I snapped a few pictures of this fairly large brown skipper yesterday and it was nice enough to let me get some good closeups. I'm not certain what species this skipper is but I have seen several skippers over the last few weeks that appear to be of the same species. Skippers can be challenging to identify as they are often a combination of brown and orange colors and sometimes even the smallest marking is all that can be used to identify them as one species or another.

My best guess at an identification right now is that it might be a Monk Skipper (Asbolis capucinus). This butterfly seemed to be about the right size for the Monk Skipper that has a wingspan of 1 7/8 - 2 3/8 inches. This species was introduced to Florida from its native home in Cuba around the 1940's and has thrived in the state since then. Monk Skipper larvae host on Various palms including palmetto (Sabal), date palm (Phoenix dactylifera), and coconut (Cocos nucifera).