Orange Dogs On My Key Lime

last year

last modified: last year

I was pretty excited to find this giant swallowtail caterpillar on my Key Lime the other day. I've been checking on it, and today I discovered 3 more and a chrysalis all clustered on the same branch!

I sure hope they all make it - and there may be more, since my tree is pretty dense and shrubby and they are hard to spot.

I know some people consider them pests, but there are plenty of leaves to spare, and the butterflies are so beautiful.

I pulled the branch horizontal for my photo - they tend to stay more vertical, since looking like bird droppings is their camouflage.

Featured Answer

sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)

last year

I let they eat my citrus. They dont usually strip them bare. If you touch their heads their long red antennae (?) will protrude and release a stinky smell lol. They protect angainst predators that way. I call them, The Bird Poo Crew because that's what they look like.

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Comments (8)

irma_stpete_10a
last year
That's wonderful!
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10 thanked irma_stpete_10a
jane__ny
last year
Yay!!! Congratulations!!
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10 thanked jane__ny
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carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10
Original Author
last year
Update: I later found 2 more chrysalises, and all of them hatched out - found them all empty, so presumably butterflies were healthy and flew away. Sorry I missed seeing them emerge, but hopefully they'll be back to lay more eggs.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
last year
I enjoyed that process, too, some years ago. Unfortunately, birds came along and stole the fat chrysalises before my eyes!
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10 thanked rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10
Original Author
last year
Oh that's so sad, rhizo!

I've seen wasps attack chrysalises, and larvae as well, but not birds.
four (9B near 9A)
last year
Carol, yes empty chrysalis shells allow some confidence that they beat the odds. Better chance when you harbor caterpillars or at least chrysales. With sulphurs, I even have to get eggs before they disappear. To see a tiny caterpillar is a rarity, and a large one is a never.

I have nothing for Giants to eat, but they come often for nectar..
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10 thanked four (9B near 9A)
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10
Original Author
last year
I've had lots of eggs but no surviving sulphur caterpillars on the senna in our butterfly garden - in my case it's wasps. The caterpillars only manage to make it to adulthood in the winter, when the wasps are dormant.