isn't this it? or not? http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20p?see=I_DLW152_1&res=640

Here is a link that might be useful: Speyeria idalia

I'd be thrilled if it were a regal fritillary, or any of the true fritillaries, but they don't occur here. And even if they did, they eat violets, not false nettles and hops vines.
But I can see how you might think my cat was a frit, since my picture makes it look very much like a regal fritillary. The picture isn't very good - it was late yesterday when I brought the cat in, dark, and it was on the underside of the leaf, but I didn't want to disturb it by trying to put more light on it.
Here's a better picture of what question marks look like -
{{gwi:471323}}

Sherry

Very cool looking, lots of long spines. I'll keep looking to see what I can find :D

Congratulations! We enjoyed rearing those two years ago (until the hops suddenly died). I'd be curious as to what % you get with tan undersides and what % have gray undersides.

Jeff

Congratulations, Sherry! I think QMs are so cute! I've been getting them every year on the small hackberry trees that I have in pots (I'm really going to have to plant them someday). I've been seeing one flying around here for about the past week, so I'll have to check to see if there are any eggs on the trees. I think 2 of my 4 trees died sitting outside over the winter.

So far this year I've seen Cabbage White, Mourning Cloak, Question Mark, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Monarch, Wild Indigo Duskywing, and Silver-spotted Skipper, pretty much in that order.

Cathy

oh now label me stupid.... Question Mark are the name of the caterpillars....DUH! I said I was brand new. I hope I at least put a smile on some faces :D

You're not stupid mschaetz, just new to butterflying!
Jeff, I've never even looked at the undersides of QM cats - I'll try to do that and see what color they are. My hops vines died out slowly, so I ordered another one last year, and that's the one I found the other two on.
Sounds like you're having a good butterfly year, Cathy - great! I'll never understand why QMs don't use the winged elm trees that I planted for them. I can understand them using false nettles, since they're native and grow by ponds, in ditches, etc., but hops sure aren't native. I've also got a small sugarberry, closely related to hackberry, which is also native, but they haven't used that one, either. Oh well, as long as they're using something!
That reminds me to check the elms for cats - one day they might use them.
Sherry

It is so funny that I have never found a QM on my Hops Vine, MissSherry. They are always on Elm, Hackberry, or False Nettle. This may be a classic case of having "too much of a good thing"! LOL.

I've always thought it was so cool that the larva of the QM rests in the shape of a question mark, too!

These are one of the easiest butterflies to raise IMHO. I have had a couple of QMs flying around the fruit feeder, but haven't found any eggs or cats yet. I had a lot of my elm and hackberry saplings cut down, tho.

Right now, I am seeing very few butterflies at all, but I'm sure it will pick up soon. I hope the BSTs find me soon because I really beefed up my Fennel, Dill, and Rue this year.

Susan

Sherry, sorry -- I meant the adults. About half are purple-tan beneath. The other half are mottled gray beneath.

Yes, Susan, they are very easy cats to raise. I found another one on the false nettles, which I brought in, and the nettle eaters had eaten several big leaves by this afternoon, so I brought in more. One of the hops eaters has moved over to the nettles. They're fast growers!
Jeff, it's hard for me to remember the details, since it's been a while since I raised QMs regularly, but I don't remember having but one batch of the light colored ones, plus another batch that was mixed - all the other batches were dark gray on the undersides. I loved the look of the "winter form" though - their undersides reminded me of terra cotta.
Sherry

Yeah on your QM cats! Wish I would get some--seems my hops vine only serves as a tug toy for my dog. They cam back even after I pulled them out of the garden he has access to last year b/c I read that hops could be toxic to dogs. Now he just "prunes" them and doesn't ingest them any more.

I hope I can get some QMs this year! Where do you usually find them--top of the leaves, underneath, along a stem?

Thanks for posting about your new cats!

I'm guessing that hops aren't as poisonous as the books make us believe, Bernergrrl, which is probably why your mischievous dog doesn't get sick eating the leaves. Rabbits and maybe deer eat any aristolochia, reputed to be very poisonous, that I grow outside my fenced in garden, but I've never found a dead or sick rabbit on my property.
The QM cats are always on the underside of the hops leaf or nettle leaf. I spotted the first cat on the nettle leaf easily, only because the leaf was sticking up at about a ?45 degree angle from the stem.
I found another one, bringing my total to 6 cats - 3 on hops, 3 on false nettles. Several of them went to the top of the cage yesterday, assumed the "J" and this morning one has made its chrysalis. These cats have been incredibly easy to raise - 'love it!
Sherry

TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cool Sherry!!! Oh how I would adore having some of those beauties. CONGRATS!! Just look at their little question mark shaping!! LOVE it!! I really do need to get myself a QM host plant. I had plenty of adults feeding on my rotten fruit here last year, so I'd have a good chance of getting cats if I had a host for them.~~Angie

Yes, you would have a real good chance of getting cats, Angie, but I don't know which host plant to advise you to plant. They prefer hops vines and false nettles here, but in many other places they prefer elms and hackberries.
If you have room, could plant all of them! :)
Sherry

Miss Sherry, did you mean that hops is not native to Mississippi? I was looking at the USDA database. I think it is weird that it is native everywhere else except Mississipi and Lousiana. I think someone is stealing them all to make beer! Congrats on your caterpillars. I really like raising QMs. You never know how the caterpillars will turn out. They are also the most active pupae I have had.
Cheers,
Elisabeth

I've never found any hops growing wild, Elisabeth. I looked at the same? database as you did, with only LA, MS and FL not having any native hops.
Actually, I thought humulus lupus/hops vine was native to Asia and had become naturalized in certain northern states - this from info I got five? or more years ago. I also didn't know there were so many variations of it, different plants growing in different parts of the country.
So, since QMs shun my elm and sugarberry trees, I assume the natural host for them is false nettles, making false nettles a great plant for me, hosting red admirals as well as QMs. Unless some hop eaters came from Alabama with a banjo on their knee that is! :)
All but two of the cats have made their chrysalis, and they're in the "J" right now - fun! Or is the new phrase 'winning'?
Sherry

I've really been on a picture-taking spree today!
The last QM made its chrysalis, this one right on the host plant, unlike the others, who made theirs on the ceiling of the cage. So I cut off the branch and put it in a water pick to put in my big, chrysalis cage. I got a picture first. I thought I remembered QM chrysalides having gold spots instead of white - maybe the white spots will turn gold with time -
{{gwi:476757}}
Sherry

Three QMs emerged this morning, all with dark undersides, Jeff. I got this picture as one flew out the door -
{{gwi:476758}}
Another one has emerged in the last hour - 'sure is fun to release them!
Sherry