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Post by lamprima2 on Sept 20, 2015 17:04:31 GMT -8
Encinitas, CA
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2015 17:55:54 GMT -8
Great photo of a spectacular species!
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Post by lamprima2 on Sept 20, 2015 20:00:53 GMT -8
Thanks, cacicus Here is my G. cacicus, by the way.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2015 23:31:01 GMT -8
84-86mm range? A perfect example, thanks for sharing
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Post by lamprima2 on Sept 21, 2015 9:45:55 GMT -8
It is about 82 mm.
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poisonarrow
Full Member
Looking for fellow entomologists in the SF Bay area
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Post by poisonarrow on Oct 9, 2015 6:23:18 GMT -8
The Agraulis are quite common in my garden, where they always populate a passion flower, and manage to strip it of all leaves, and then die of hunger. Every year the same, but many make it into pupa, so there are many around. I was quite surprised to see that they seem to be very specific on their foodplant. They devour Passiflora coerulea, but leave P. edulis alone.
Cheers Ben
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Post by eurytides on Oct 9, 2015 7:05:54 GMT -8
That's surprising; I have raised A. vanillae on Passiflora edulis without difficulty. Do they not lay eggs on the plant at all or just that the larvae leave the plant once hatched?
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poisonarrow
Full Member
Looking for fellow entomologists in the SF Bay area
Posts: 109
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Post by poisonarrow on Oct 9, 2015 8:05:56 GMT -8
They do not lay eggs on it, same for P. molissima. I am not sure why. It was also strange that even though the plants are all in close proximity and intertwined, that the caterpillars rather wandered off and died, than to move to the P. edulis. The females definitely did not lay eggs on the P. edulis.
One thing I do not understand yet is that fact that butterflies seem to prefer certain plants over other individuals. I do have a lot of A. vanillae in my garden, yet I hardly see any on other Passionflower plants in the neighborhood. Mine are potted, and maybe a bit weaker, hence more attractive, than the big strong plants that are in the ground?
Not sure, but it is a beautiful species, and pretty much the only one that I can get in my garden in WC.
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