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Caterpillar season
Our Wet season is the ideal time for caterpillars since that is when their food plants are growing best, so it makes sense that the Wet is also peak butterfly mating and egg-laying time. In the last...
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Crow butterfly – caterpillar and chrysalis
A little while ago I posted pictures of a full-grown Crow butterfly caterpillar and an egg just laid by an adult of the same species. I was lucky enough to follow the development of both of them The...
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Caterpillar rescue
The Cairns Birdwing, Ornithoptera priamus euphorion (formerly Troides euphorion), is our biggest and one of our most spectacular butterflies (female, male) and it is one of the few that we actively...
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Wasp and caterpillar
Wasp in hunting mode When I saw this wasp (Vespidae, Eumeninae) looking so busy on the tip of an hibiscus leaf I naturally looked more closely and saw what she was after, the very slim yellowish...
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The Clearwing Swallowtail butterfly
Clearwing Swallowtail in flight near Aristolochia vine Clearwing Swallowtails, Cressida cressida, lay their eggs on five different species of Aristolochia, according to Don Herbison-Evans and Stella...
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Cairns Birdwing butterflies emerging
A female Cairns Birdwing (top) has just emerged from the chrysalis at lower right, and the older male has mated her immediately Three weeks ago I wrote about the collection of Cairns Birdwing...
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Cairns Birdwing butterfly pupation and emergence
Beginning pupation. Note how the leaf and stem have been reinforced with black silk. I have been writing about Cairns Birdwing butterflies quite often but there are still more things to say (and our...
View ArticleCaterpillar rescue
The Cairns Birdwing, Ornithoptera priamus euphorion (formerly Troides euphorion), is our biggest and one of our most spectacular butterflies (female, male) and it is one of the few that we actively...
View ArticleVery hungry caterpillars
We have quite a few pots of Madonna Lilies (aka Peace Lilies, Spathiphyllum spp.) around the house; they do well until they are eaten, which happens with some regularity. Looking down into a pot...
View ArticleMunch!
In my previous post I admitted that I missed the Crow butterfly, Euploea core, on my walk around the garden. I still haven’t got a photo of the adult butterfly but here’s the child – the caterpillar....
View ArticleWhere are our birdwing butterflies?
A friend sent me a photo of a caterpillar ten days ago, with two implied questions: This caterpillar is feeding off native Dutchmans Pipe. Also, the Cairns Birdwing caterpillars of several people I...
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