Do you have a favorite butterfly?

I love them ALL!

R1 I LOVE that movie. Very few people have heard of it.

Painted ladies fly from Scandinavia, south, across the Sahara to the tropics. It is the longest insect migration known. They travel thousands of more miles than the Monarch. They live on every continent except Antarctica, which has no butterflies.

The monarch has traveled in to the International Space Station, but they took a shuttle. It is not on their normal route.

Next week, I will ask about your favorite bat.

McQueen

Madama Butterfly.

Most people that love butterflies, hate the caterpillars. The worms are horrible and eat the parsley, until they become the beautiful butterflies.

The Leanira Checkerspot, the rarest butterfly that's ever posed for my camera.

No, really, I like to photograph wildlife and butterflies are my favorite subjects!

How can you pick a favorite?

,,,,

Tony WoodardIs a poet!

I know, R2: GREAT movie!! Any other unknowns you can recommend?

Mothman

I’ve always fancied the Venus Butterfly myself. It’s very popular in certain circles...

My favorite butterfly that I see locally is the Zebra Swallowtail. Their host plant is the pawpaw tree, which I have growing in my back yard. They come and lay eggs on the trees, but ravenous song birds usually devour the caterpillars before they develop into butterflies. I suppose there are enough hidden pawpaw trees where I live that can bring their pupae to fruition, since I see them every lear.

And, if we're talking about "in general", there's nothing more beautiful than the Blue Morpho. I have a framed one.

Love is like a butterfly.

What the Venus actually entailed was never disclosed.

I grew up seeing caterpillar tents everywhere (late 60s early 70s). I’ve seen just one caterpillar about 5 years ago and maybe two butterflies a year. I still live in the same area.

The beautiful Monarch butterfly. Although I don't see them as much as I did when I was a kid growing up.

Gorgeous Monarch.

R12, Let me do some mulling and I'll get back to you.

In the meantime, I saw a butterfly come out of a cocoon in our office. We thought it was a dirt lump, then all of a sudden there was a gorgeous brown butterfly with two bright blue spots on its wings on the floor. It was such a weird and lovely surprise.

The Monarch is having trouble as it lives off of one plant, the milkweed. It makes its vacation trips to Mexico to breed like a college student on Spring Break, but does so by hop scotching from milkweed meadows to milkweed meadows, and these sites are being destroyed by human developments.

“Hmm, I could swear there was a milkweed meadow around here somewhere, just three generations ago.” Said mother Monarch.

So, the Monarch family is under stress and people are encouraged to plant milkweed with a big sign saying “Monarchs Welcome.”

People I know love caterpillars as long as they know they will get a butterfly and not a moth. It’s like Mystery Date and nobody wants the “dud”, accept after they reach puberty, when the “dud” starts looking kinda sexy.

....

You bitches are slipping.

I bough 8 common milkweed plants last year. Planted, tended them. Lots of butterfly eggs. Hooray! Next day, holes where the eggs were and ants everywhere. And tiny little shiny wasps. Saw one caterpillar. Looked up the developmental stage and it was a caterpillar that had about two more stages to go through. Gone the next day and I saw birds hopping around in my little milkweed patch.

So I went online and found out that no, you can’t just plant common milkweed and expect to get butterflies. Not. Gonna. Happen.

You need to plant lots of milkweed and then you have to cut off a leaf when you see eggs on it. Then take the leaves into your house and put them in an aquarium. Then you need to put more milkweed leaves in the aquarium as food for the caterpillars once the caterpillars leave the egg.

But....that doesn’t guarantee success. Lots of monarch caterpillars carry a virus that kill it before it becomes a butterfly. I kept reading and people talked about having a ton of “cats” but only getting two butterflies because of all the viruses and the waspy things that lay eggs inside caterpillars. It’s like a fucking full time job! Who has time for that except lonely old widows?

Damn. They make it sound so easy. Help the monarchs.....plant the milkweed and you will get butterflies. Oh...did we mention you need to have an aquarium and a screen top for it and tons and tons of milkweed leaves you need to cut from the plants...

And...the plants all died in August from some weird disease where they all turned brown and wet and then shriveled up into nothing. Never made any seed pods, even though the plants I bought were a few years old.

Miss Tessie Tura.....

Have been a butterfly enthusiast for many years, each season I plant flowers known to be particularly attractive to them. I do my best to cultivate Butterfly Weed(the orange, flattop milkweed) to encourage the caterpillars, but I think the hordes of bright yellow aphids that always show up deter egg-laying.

I do better planting parsley family herbs, so I can watch the Swallowtails to their job.

My favorite butterfly is the Mourning Cloak, called Camberwell Beauty in the UK. It's not the brightest or most distinctive butterfly, but it it easily recognized since no other butterfly(to my knowledge) looks anything quite like it. Look for it in early Spring, since it overwinters as an adult.

If you're going to grow flowers to attract butterflies, make the plantings as large as possible, of the more old-fashioned single-flowered types. Colors are not important, butterflies have infra-red vision to see markings on flower petals invisible to unaided human eyes. As flowers fade, prune them to encourage more blooms, and try to plant things that will give you a succession of bloom from Spring through Fall.

I have Monarchs in my backyard. But, they are endangered bc of pesticides, now.

I like the blue butterfly that was posted. Why did you kill it you psycho DLer? What is wrong with you?

R30, I didn't kill it. I bought it, already framed from an entomologist in SF who has an Etsy shop.

I was fortunate to grow up in a garden full of Cabbage Whites & Tortoiseshells.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

I was inspired to acquire a Blue Morpho after remembering this scene from 'Papillon'.

They farm the blue morpho commercial in Costa Rica for butterfly gardens all around the world. It’s not a terrible thing to buy them framed.

do not kill butterflies and stop using pesticides. Sit in your front yard/porch and only serve wine and cocktails to those who are organic. MAKE A STAND.

I like going into the butterfly pavilions that they have at zoos and museums now. They have one at the natural history museums in NYC and DC, IIRC. They also have one at the Boston Zoo that is affilliated with the Stone Zoo, of Stoneham, MA. The Christmas Moose gave me a private tour and all it cost me was a bag of peanuts, and I got to pet his schnoz, too.

They fill the pavilions with fresh fruit and a lot of the butterflies seem transfixed by the cornucopia of sweetness.

I have a few monarchs in my back yard. I always love seeing them. They really make me happy.

Really nice thread, Op.

No pesticides, only organic.

My sister planted a butterfly bush, and it worked immediately. I have no idea of the bush’s name, or the variety of butterflies that arrived, but there were a lot of them. They were delightful.

Can you find out for us [R39]? Thanks

I planted a Pipevine (Aristolochia macrophylla) at my brother's house a long time ago to help cover a chain-link fence that surrounds his pool to provide some privacy. It was a popular vine to plant in Victorian times, but is now very uncommon. It's the host plan for the Pipevine Swallowtail, a gorgeous black butterfly with blue and orange markings. Even though the closest native Pipevines are found in neighboring states, after a few years, they showed up, and we found lots of their black caterpillars feeding on the pipevine, and ended up with lots of Pipevine Swallowtails every year since then. My (straight) older brother isn't all that attuned to nature, but he still tells me when "those black butterflies" shows up, because he knows I'll stop by to see them.

Forgot my intended link.

[quote] R40: Can you find out for us [[R39]]? Thanks

I have asked. I will report back when I hear.

I like a fat wailing butterfly.

Isn’t “Butterfly” a Mexican slur for a Gay person? “Mariposa”?

Maricon, r45.......

Sometimes in a butterfly pavilion, a butterfly or two or more will find a particular person to be really attractive and they will alright on that person, who then gets stuck in the pavilion and can’t leave until the butterflies lose interest and fitter off. It’s funny to see.

Poor butterfly.........

It’s Mariposa. Maricon also means “faggot”, but does not also mean butterfly. Mariposa also is Spanish slang for whore.

Moths can be pretty too

That’s Mothra, R50, he doesn’t count.

Why hasn't the name Cecropia caught on?

Miami Blue.

My sister does not know the proper name for the “butterfly bush”, or the varieties of butterflies it beckons. Sorry.

[quote] Buddleja, or Buddleia, commonly known as the butterfly bush, is a genus comprising over 140 species of flowering plants endemic to Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

You can google “butterfly bush”.

I bet Home Depot sells a generic variety as a “Butterfly Bush” and no one working there knows anything more than that it attracts butterflies, which is all my sister cares about. She said hers works great. She’s had one, at her former and current home, each. Maybe a gardening center would have a variety of these bushes, and ones best suited to your climate and butterfly stock.

The butterfly bush is a perennial. I may buy one and see if it works on my rooftop, 4 stories up, in a pot, and survives the seasons. I otherwise don’t have any perennials.

For those wanting to grow buddleias in pots, keep an eye out for the smaller types that grow to just 3to 5 feet, much easier to deal with. They ARE butterfly magnets, but remember, this is just a nectar source, which butterflies DO need, but won't lay eggs on. If you want to encourage egg-laying, you'll need to grow plants that are frequented by various species for that purpose: Carrot family for swallowtails, milkweeds for monarchs, etc. Check out butterfly-rearing websites, you'll find a host of valuable information.

Blue Morpho

And the

Rainbow butterfly

Thank you, Bronzie.

This is my favorite, he's on the left. Butterfly works at Le Lipstique. He's been there the longest.

Have seen TWO swallowtail butterflies in the last three days, never knew they could appear so early in the year. I did some research which said that swallowtails can overwinter as chrysalises/pupae. Both butterflies seemed stunted on one side of a hindwing, and one appeared unable to open its wings that were held closed over its body. Genetic malformation? Lack of food source? Winter damage? Hopefully others will be in the area and attracted to some parsley plants that have overwintered well, and should provide prime egg-laying locations.

Off topic: Have not seen any honeybees this Spring, and I am concerned. We've had apple, cherry, pear, maple and holly trees in bloom, and they have always been reliable nectar sources for honeybees, but this year the trees have been bee-less. I hope orchard trees are faring better, or it's going to be a rather fruitless year.

Butterfly McQueen

They are so cute when they're babies. Look like little furry worms. Butterflies, lady bugs and fireflies are the only insects I like.

[R55] Thanks for checking and getting back to us. Have to ask at a plant nursery.

R64, what about the Praying Mantis? When I was growing up, they were rare enough that seeing one was like getting the brass ring.

Went to the Butterfly Pavilion at the London Natural History Museum. This is a cross post from the “Solo in London” thread.

Another vote for the Blue Morpho.

See, they migrate.

You, baby. You.

It's the Monarch but some days he's just too much of a pill.

Last choice ftw

^^Zorak!!

[quote] The worms are horrible and eat the parsley, until they become the beautiful butterflies.

Are you sure they weren't eating the cilantro?

Song Liling

I was in Denver, Colorado, at the start of October 2017. It was fall up in the mountains so I was surprised to see that Denver itself was chockablock with butterflies - there seemed to be a butterfly on every flower and several on flowering shrubs, I'd see dozens on the larger bushes. When I looked close I was even more surprised to see that they were all the same species - the Painted Lady (vanessa cardui).

Then this summer I found this article, which said that the butterflies I'd seen were part of an unusually large migration of Painted Ladies, clouds of butterflies were actually showing up on the local military radar and mystifying the guys who were looking out for invasions or terrorists incursions.

blue moth

Acherontia styx

R77, did you embroider that?! It would make a very nice serviette.

OMG the poster who has the framed butterflies, I remember several years ago when I was redecorating, those shots of your house totally inspired me!!!!! I think it was a thread on collecting china or perfume bottles. I go visit in SF every year and an always in that same bug shop, and I always think of that pretty wall you have with the framed butterflies. It’s sweet that you’re still here too love!

So-mo bow-floo.

R80, Yes, that's me. I posted my fragrance collection on a great thread about favorite colognes: if you click on that butterfly photo above, it's actually also on the Imgur URL. I think I posted most of the photos of my house on this thread (Color in Design), which I really enjoyed. Kisses for remembering!

Anyway, I have a couple of sand vines climbing through some shrubs in my yard, and I've been meaning to tear them out. It's a weedy annual vine in the milkweed family, with uninteresting leaves and small white flowers. Once the flowers are pollinated, they develop into characteristic milkweed pods, full of seeds and silk. But I noticed several monarch butterflies visiting the flowers today, so I'll grant them a reprieve.

R16

Th biggest problem for monarchs are tachinid flies. They parasitize monarch caterpillars. The caterpillars seem fine, then they form a chrysalis, which looks fine. But the chrysalis turns black and shrivels up. Instead of a monarch, you get tachinid flies or tachinid maggots. The flies are considered “beneficial” insects b cause they kill caterpillars on farm crops. Well...guess where butterflies come from?

It’s very hard to raise monarchs outdoors. Only about 1-5% survive. Everyone blames pesticides when it’s actualky organic farmers who are responsible for the increased killing of monarchs. . It’s politically incorrect to blame any “organic” reason for the problem, though.

I found two monarch chrysalises today - the first I’ve ever seen on my property & they’re both from a swamp milkweed. One chrysalis is on the plant itself and one is under a railing on my deck that the swamp milkweed blooms against.

There are 3 monarch caterpillars in my backyard on common milkweed. They’re pretty big. And they’re pooping like crazy. But I don’t know if they’ll make chrysalises. The only plants nearby are my neighbors privet hedges and trying to see a chrysalis in a 150 ft privet hedge would be a little too difficult for me.

So I was excited that I have 4 monarch. chrysalises and a caterpillar. One of the chrysalises opened 5his morning and a beautiful monarch emerged. It pumped its wings to dry, took off and fell. Then it tried to fly again about an hour later and fell some more. It’s been over 3 hours now. It only takes 30 min-2hours for the wings to dry, so it looks as if this beautiful butterfly has OE, a parasite, and is too weak to fly. It’s very sad. The first time I’ve ever had a chrysalis and then a butterfly emerge.

I guess all 3 of the other chrysalises will have a similar fate. Beautiful butterflies will emerge and not be able to fly

The Mary-est post title of all time!