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| Flamboyant Passion-flower Blossom, Passiflora incarnata. |
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As we were departing Nash Prairie, someone noticed Passion-flower, Passiflora incarnata,
blooming on a barbed-wire fence near our
truck. On the Passion-flower leaves there were the dramatic caterpillars of the Gulf Fritillary. Scott, my fellow Master Naturalist, held back the leaves so I could snap a picture. Back in the truck, we started to drive away, when Aaron, the Project Director, spotted an unfamiliar butterfly. We all jumped out of the vehicle to look and identify. Thank goodness for digital cameras: it is much easier to examine a critter from a picture, back at home, after a shower, with all the field guide books handy. I decided that the mystery butterfly was a Varigated Fritillary, Euptoieta claudia. The Varigated Fritillary also uses Passion-flower as a larval host! If anyone has a different identification for it, please let me know!
Before coming to the Nash Prairie, I had not seen a tiny Phaon Crescent, Phyciodes phaon. I grow a lot of its larval host plant, Frog Fruit, Phyla, as a ground cover at my house.
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| Larva of Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, munching on Passionflower leaves |
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| Plump, glossy, purple and orange striped caterpillar of Gulf Fritillary butterfly on Passionflower leaves |
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| Varigated Fritillary, Euptoieta claudia, nectaring on Brazilian Vervain |
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| Another view: Varigated Fritillary nectaring on Brazilian Vervain |
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| Phaon Crescent nectaring on Frog Fruit. Frog Fruit is also its larval host |
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| Another view: Phaon Crescent, Phyciodes phaon, nectaring on Frog Fruit |
