The Soldier Butterfly

The third and least common of the milkweed butterflies in Florida is the Soldier Butterfly (Danaus eresimus) also known as the Tropical Queen. A rare treat in our MOSI gardens, this particular butterfly was feasting on Mexican flame vine. The Soldier butterfly has a coloration slightly more orange than the Queen’s rich brick red but has black lines that trace the veins in the upperside of the wings and a watermark of whitish spots on the underside of the lower wing. These differences help to visually differentiate this butterfly from a Queen, but identification can still be tricky unless you get quite close.

The Soldier butterfly is a member of the Nymphalidae or brush-foot family. The adult butterfly only appears to have 4 legs as the last 2 insect legs are very small and are located near the butterfly's head. As adults, these delightful butterflies are clever mimics utilizing Mullarian mimicry to reinforce the warning colors and distasteful qualities of several related species, gaining all three species more protection from predators.

Soldier larvae also host on Milkweed (Asclepias spp.) plants and can be found in   the same range as Monarchs and Queens so that all three species can be found on the same host plants. Starting off life as bright orange eggs laid on milkweed, the larvae eventually look very similar to that of a queen butterfly with their white and yellow stripes and three pair of fleshy tubercles. The chrysalis is said to have the same appearance as a Monarch and can be quite difficult to differentiate.

The Soldier is a tropical species of butterfly usually only found to the south of Central Florida and tends to be the least often seen of the milkweed butterfly species.

Photo Credit: Soldier butterfly photo by MOSI Outside volunteer, Patti W.

Well, this wraps up a week of the milkweed family of butterflies in Florida and their host plants. Hope you enjoyed it!

"Elizabeth's Secret Garden" Visits Escuela Las Nubes in Costa Rica

A vibrant young woman and friend of MOSI named Elizabeth Mann just had an amazing trip to Costa Rica where she was

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able to explore rainforests and study native butterflies. During her visit to Costa Rica, Elizabeth proudly wore her MOSI BioWorks Butterfly Garden shirt and got some great photos!

In Costa Rica Elizabeth Mann had the pleasure of visiting Escuela Las Nubes. She taught the children about butterflies of Costa Rica. The children there were eager to learn about the butterflies and their life cycles. Elizabeth used her own photo's of the life cycle of each butterfly. The school has its own butterfly pavilion which the children help to maintain. The class Elizabeth taught helped the children learn more about the butterflies they help to raise.

Elizabeth donated her manuscript, "Elizabeth's Secret Garden" A Study of Butterflies in North America  to Escuela Las Nubes. Her manuscript on butterflies will be the first butterfly book in the school library. It includes the life cycle of butterflies, how to raise them, and tours of gardens and butterfly conservatories Elizabeth has gone to. The MOSI BioWorks Butterfly Garden is included in her book. Children at Escuela Las Nubes will enjoy reading her manuscript for generations to come.

Elizabeth is blogging her tour of Costa Rica of her blog Elizabeth’s Secret Garden.  She also has posted a Costa Rica Identification Photo Contest on post January 28th. The winner who correctly identifies a photo will receive credit and get their name and a link to their web-site or blog posted below the picture. Elizabeth wishes that you please share her story with your friends and have fun!

The Queen Butterfly

The Queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus)  is the second of three milkweed feeding butterflies that resides  in the state of Florida. Seen less often than the ubiquitous Monarch, they can be distinguished by the darker brick  red color of their wings that looks very different from the Monarch’s bright orange coloration.  Also, the topside of their wings is unmarked with the black lines that follow the veins on a Monarch’s wing.

The Queen butterfly is native to both North and South America and is a member of the Nymphalidae or brush-foot family. The adult butterfly only appears to have 4 legs as the last 2 insect legs are very small and are located near the butterfly's head. As adults, these delightful butterflies are clever mimics utilizing Mullarian mimicry to reinforce the warning colors and distasteful qualities of several related species, gaining all three species more protection from predators.

Queen butterfly larvae are just so lovely but are often mistaken for Monarch butterfly larvae. As a member of the Danaid species, the Queen, much like the monarch, hosts on Milkweed (Asclepias spp.) plants. So basically, this is the other caterpillar you might find eating your milkweed. The third set of tubercles (fleshy antenna looking projections) helps to distinguish it from the Monarch caterpillar. Queen caterpillars tend to eat slower than monarchs and can quickly by outpaced by their voracious cousins.

The chrysalis of a Queen looks a great deal like a monarch chrysalis but they tend to be slightly smaller in size and may have a yellow-green coloration similar to that of a wax bean.

Photo Credit: Queen butterfly photo by Jill Staake

The Monarch Butterfly

I was looking back through the archives of this blog and was stunned to discover that I had never written a post about the ubiquitous Monarch butterfly. So now, in the dead of (Florida) winter when almost nothing is green I hereby declare this week to be milkweed week! Milkweed butterflies are hardy enough to survive even these cold months and their bright colors can warm even an entirely brown garden enough to give a gardener hope for Spring.

The Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) starts life as a tiny white egg deposited on a Milkweed (Asclepias spp.) plant. The diminutive larvae develops inside the egg and eventually eats its way through the eggshell, quickly making its first home into its first meal.

Monarch caterpillars go through 5 instars or periods of growth between molting when the caterpillar will shed its skin. At each instar the caterpillar is usually at a particular range of size  and has certain characteristics. These changes in size and coloring allow us to figure out where they are in their development process and then know about how much they will need to eat. Monarch larvae are prolific eaters and can strip milkweed plants bare with remarkable speed.  Rearing monarchs can be a real challenge for this reason and also because they are susceptible to several diseases and many predators.

Once the Monarch larvae has reached its full size it will attach itself in a protected  place using a tiny pad of silk spun from organs called spinnerets. The larvae will slowly shed its skin revealing a green pupa beneath which is called a chrysalis. See video here. The chrysalis of the Monarch is a pale  green and feels waxy to the touch. Tiny spots and lines of iridescent gold mark the surface of the chrysalis making it a truly beautiful sight to behold. As the butterfly inside undergoes metamorphosis, the chrysalis skin begins to thin and become clear, revealing the developing butterfly inside. After about two weeks, the fully formed Monarch ecloses from the chrysalis and will be ready to fly in a few short hours.

The adult Monarch can live up to about a month and spends that time searching for a mate, feeding, or possibly ovipositing (laying eggs). The male Monarch can be distinguished from the female of the species by a raised black spot on the lower wing. This raised area is a pouch on the wing that produces scented scales called androconia that males use to help attract females.

Monarchs in peninsular Florida are non-migratory and have an established year-round population in the Tampa Bay area. Even right after the hard freezes a few weeks ago, Monarchs were out patrolling for food and mates. as soon as the weather warmed up.

Outside of Florida the Monarch is known as one of the best known migratory creatures of the animal kingdom with individuals travelling up to 3,000 miles so that they may overwinter in highlands of Mexico. This annual migration helps to keep the population safe over the winter but also serves to help keep the population more disease free as sick individuals are less likely to be able to make the whole journey. Each Spring these monarchs mate and then begin flying further north with each successive generation.

The Monarch butterfly is a member of the Nymphalidae or brush-foot family. The adult butterfly only appears to have 4 legs as the last 2 insect legs are very small and are located near the butterfly's head. As adults, these butterflies are clever mimics utilizing Mullarian mimicry to reinforce the warning colors and distasteful qualities of several related species, gaining all three species more protection from predators.

Photo credit: Mirrored monarchs photo by Jill Staake

Flight Encounter Replanted

Yesterday the Flight Encounter received a makeover. Winter annuals, new milkweed and new nectar plants were all installed to replace the cold burned plants. The butterflies were instantly entranced by the new flowers and especially keyed in on the yellow lantana.  At one point we counted six monarchs, a queen, and two sulphurs all nectaring on the same plant. Another favorite was the hanging baskets of purple petunias which became a pretty obvious butterfly lounge only minutes after they were hung in place.

The new colors have really helped perk up the Flight Encounter and provide new host and nectar plants for our winter butterflies. Right now we have lots of monarchs, a few queens, several cloudless sulphurs, a half dozen zebra longwings, a

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couple of polydamas swallowtails and one lone sleepy orange. Winter always reduces the population to only the most cold hardy species and in numbers lower than in more temperate times of year. For right now we still have a good crop of winter butterflies.

Tomorrow we will be replanting the front annual beds with petunias and dianthus, both cold hardy annuals that will happily survive the rest of the winter season.

Fire Cracker Russelia

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Fire Cracker Bush (Russelia sarmentosa) is a butterfly and hummingbird attractor and also serves as a host plant for the Buckeye butterfly. I have never personally seen buckeyes use this plant to host, but I have heard multiple reports and seen pictures of larvae on the plant.

Also known as Coralblow this plant is in the same genus as Firecracker Grass (Russelia equisetiformis) and both plants are long blooming and can be heavily laden with red tubular blooms. The Russelia in the Historic Tree Grove took some damage in the freeze but will sure to be blooming like a champ by spring.

Well, Shiver Me Butterflies!

One method of thermoregulation in monarch butterflies is shivering. Butterflies can vibrate their wings in place which causes their flight muscles and thorax to warm above the external air temperature.



Butterflies and some other poikilotherms ("of varying temperature") have some methods of adjusting their body temperatures. Monarch butterflies, like the one pictured in the video, will also bask in sunlight and allow the solar radiation to warm the haemolymph (circulatory fluid of certain invertebrates) that runs through the veins in their wings, basically using their wings like solar panels. Basking with the addition of shivering can raise the temperature of a monarch so that it can fly even though external temperatures might be prohibitive.

The article Thoracic temperature, shivering, and flight in the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus (L.) from The Journal of Comparative Physiology (April, 1970) showed that a monarch butterfly shivering its wings at 59 to 60 degrees Celsius could raise its temperature at 1.3 degrees Celsius/minute reaching a thoratic temperature of 4 degrees Celsius greater than ambient temperature. At higher temperatures the butterflies could warm themselves faster and to an even greater temperature above ambient. Pretty cool!

Video by MOSI Outside volunteer Jill Staake

Torpor

A torpid animal is dormant: this could be anything from an overwinter hibernation to a temporary overnight slowing of their bodies. Torpor helps animals to survive periods of cold temperatures by conserving their energy.

Butterflies and other insects respond to cold weather by slowing down their heartbeat and respiration thus expending less energy to keep themselves alive in a period where they cannot obtain nutrients and when it is more difficult for them to become warm.

Cold-blooded is an outdated and somewhat misleading term. The current accepted terminology is poikilotherms which means "of varying temperature". This refers to creatures with an internal temperature that varies but often matches the ambient temperature outside of their bodies. Butterflies  can warm their flight muscles by vibrating their wings in place, giving them some control over their internal temperatures.

When it is cold,  insects caught outside will reach this state of torpor and remain remarkably still until temperatures rise. On cool mornings you can wander about a garden and see all sorts of creatures in this state of rest and get close enough to inspect their delicate details.

Photo: This fantastic picture of a frozen ladybug was taken by my friend Dwight Eric Cox in Chattanooga Tenn.

The weather outside is frightful…

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Several nights of persistent freezing temperature have taken their toll on parts of the garden. The milkweed, firebush, potato vine and mimosa all look pretty burned.  Other plants like the roses, kalanchoe and trilobed pipevine seem to be thriving in this dryer weather. The African Irises are starting to put on a show of white flowers now that cooler weather has arrived.

Here is a look at this morning in the gardens. For the good or the bad, it is certainly winter. How is your garden doing? Send me a picture at kristeng@mosi.org and share your view of winter.

Fragrant Olive

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Known also as Tea Olive or Sweet Olive, Fragrant Olive (Osmanthus fragrans) is true to its name. Deliciously fragrant, the stark white blossoms of Osmanthus may be small but they draw the attention of visitors who are searching for the source of that delightful perfume on the air.

Fragrant olive is slow-growing but long lived. In time this evergreen plant can reach heights up to about 20 feet but in generally found at heights of 6 to 10 feet in a garden landscape. Osmanthus generally blooms throughout fall, winter and early spring but may also produce occasional flowers throughout the summer. The MOSI gardens are host to four Osmanthus plants, two near the butterfly garden enclosure and two young plants in the sensory garden beneath the Ray Charles Live Oak in the tree grove.

Fragrant olive is used in teas and in perfumes. Read more at this link about how the scent of these flowers is produced through the breakdown of beta-carotene and other hydrocarbons found resident in the Osmanthus plant. Yay for science.

Anise Hyssop

Happy 2010 to everyone and welcome to a whole new year of info from the MOSI, Tampa BioWorks Butterfly Gardens and Richard T. Bowers Historic Tree Grove. As always we are happy for your questions and comments and are always happy to write a blog post to answer your questions.

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The anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) is by some miracle still holding on in the gardens and continuing to bloom even with the recent cold snaps. When crushed, the leaves of anise hyssop have a fragrant licorice or anise aroma. This member of the mint family is native to the northern portions of North America but it still seems to thrive in West Central Florida gardens.

The tiny clusters of purple flowers are deliciously attractive to smaller species of butterflies like the Long-tailed Skipper (Urbanus proteus) pictured right and various species of hairstreak butterflies like the Fulvous Hairstreak (Electrostrymon angelia) pictured below. These diminutive flowers are also pollinated by a number of species of bee and you can find some neat species making visits like the Green Metallic Bee. When creating a butterfly garden, try using a wide variety of nectar plant species in a variety of colors and heights. Br providing a variety of nectar plants you often will attract a greater variety of butterfly species.

Anise hyssop is a perennial plant that can handle full sun and has minimal watering needs. These plants can grow 3 to 5 feet in height and seem to do best when the deadheads are removed after they finish blooming.