Lepidoptera Lovers: Butterfly Kisses

[badger2]

An inspiring movie and butterfly, Likk! For kids with cancer, what are the possibilities that actual butterflies could be brought into the hospital?

We won't dismiss the anti cancer possibilities, though the morphos may be attracted to the vines on the trees in Alejuela province. Further investigation is required. A Yahoo search, "Machaerium granadensis" will retrieve the entry "Journal of the Lepidopterist's Society (1978)" which is the article entitled, "Studies on the Interactions of Morpho peleides (Morphidae) with Legumonisae," which shows photos of the caterpillars. Here is an excerpt:

'In the premontane tropical wet forest life zone of northeastern Costa Rica, a larval foodplant of the butterfly Morpho peleides Kollar is the vine Machaerium aff. floribundum Benth. (Legumonisae). The vine and butterfly occur in stands of mixed primary and secondary tropical wet forest. It is known that M. peleides utilizes several leguminous woody vines and trees as larval foodplants in Costa Rica (Young and Muyshondt, 1973) and the species can be reared on commercially available peanut plants both in Costa Rica and in Wisconsin.'

 

[badger2]

The apparent Odezia you spotted is doubtful: UK and Europe.

Odezia
Odezia - Wikipedia

 

[badger2]

Odezia hostplant

Conopodium majus
Conopodium majus - Wikipedia

 

[badger2]

Hypercompe scribonia hostplants include

Bougainvillea (Nyctaginaceae) USA

Citrus jambhiri (Rutaceae)

C. reticulata USA

Phytolacca americana (Pokeweed) (Phytolaccaceae)

Ricinus communis (Euphorbiaceae)

Taraxacum (dandelion)

Viola

Magnolia

Lonicera

Salix (willow)

Ricinus communis and Phytolacca americana contain ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs), the former poison being ricin, to which there is no antidote. H. scribonia is a remarkable insect.

 

[beautress]

Odezia hostplant

Conopodium majus
Conopodium majus - Wikipedia

I looked those up. They're growing near where my little black friend with the tannish border was flailing around, in my furthest back field where I mowed a walker's path yesterday, bordering on the floodplain area close to where the purple flowers were growing that attracted the unique little gulf coast-type fritillaries. The house builder was a veterinarian who specialized in horses, his wife loved perennials, and the people in between grew herbs from around the planet. So I'm not sure how those flowers got here, but it could be these little ground dwelling moth/butterflies only one of which I found could have been brought over here attached to a plant and/or was undiscovered. There are zero solid black small butterflies listed in my Texas butterflies and moths book, so I do not know how that little guy got out there in my field, but if he was born here in May, there are more of them out there somewhere. Plants I've never seen flower before flowered our fourth year here, was when I first noticed them in the orchard area, but this year I may not see them because I am allowing my pastures to be fallow this year instead of planting.

So I don't know how that butterfly got here, but he is not recorded, I guess. I'll have to look through more of my butterfly picture books. I tend to buy books that have quilt-ready looking butterfly beauties on them, but I have many others that date back in time. I'll try and notice where I put them when I replaced my old cookbook area used as a place for butterfly look-ats and then homeopathic kitchen cures books a couple of years ago. Books, books, books!

Maybe they were here all along. The Sam Houston National forest of tall pines was here long before we Americans were. Before we struck oil, people were of the pioneer ilk, working their fingers to the bone on their land, just to get by.

He was sleek, beautiful black. With a rim.

 

[beautress]

I found ground nuts on Ebay:

10 seednuts "From France" Conopodium majus
RARE 10 graines de NOIX DE TERRE (Conopodium Majus)H823 PIGNUT SEEDS SAMEN SEMI | eBay

I have many different types of unknown umbel-blossoming herbals growing wild here. Again, they may or may not be natives, it's just that they're ubiquitous. Not all are exactly alike, but close enough to be the specie Conopodium majus. I'm only showing what's identical-looking to what's growing on my 14 acres that is watered on 2 long sides by a seasonal creek, one of which feeds my Freedom Lake.

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[beautress]

Hairpull time over. I found the little critter. Something kept nagging me that it had a red head, and I couldn't remember if I had seen a dull yellow rim or beige, because the shiny black dominated in my recollection. This may be the one I saw, I've been looking at pictures of black moths for literally hours, now, between making pecan and chocolate chip cookies, that is. Umm fresh cookies made with butter. You just can't get them around here.

Here is Ctenucha virginica, Ctenucha virginica - Wikipedia

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This also may explain the huge black fuzzy wuzzy worms everywhere out in the fields out back. AT first it looked like they were climbing up on grass, but when I got there to look at the little midnight black fuzzballs, the "grass" was more like a weed than grass, but most of the weeds were not flowering, but they were between rounded buns of grass. And since they were poetry-in-motion climbing up (the one above is perpendicular to up; I'm not sure the white stripe was visible. I want to learn more about this riddle moth, since it just didn't look like a moth from its narrow feelers, it looked like the little guy above. And you can just make out the light border that is not a pristine white on the creature I saw--for what reason, it is not known to me.

From what Wikipedia says,:
Morphology[edit]
The wingspan ranges from 40–50 millimetres (1.6–2.0 in).[1] The wing color varies from black to olive-brown. The body is a metallic blue-green. The head is yellow-orange, with feathery antennae. The caterpillar (about 20–25 mm) has multiple tufts of white and yellow hair.[2] It undergoes metamorphosis in May–August.

Range[edit]
It is endemic to eastern North America, from Newfoundland south to Virginia. According to the University of Alberta, there has been a westward expansion in the last 60 years as it has reached the Canadian rockies and is now found in all Canadian provinces.[3]

Food plants[edit]
Larvae feed on a variety of host plants including various grasses, irises, and sedges. Adults drink nectar from flowers including goldenrod.[4]

The goldenrod is a very common plant all summer, with a crescendo in or around August-September-October here.

 

[beautress]

Going to show more pics of above moth that I found in the grass in broad daylight yesterday--his kind is varied, and I'm not sure if any of these are from Walker County, Texas, where I live. They are brown to black, my fella was sleek black-black. Vaguely remember a dab of red on his head like the ones below, do not recall blue, but he was hiding his long, colorful body with his wings covering it. And it is very rainy around here, he could've gotten his light stripe a bit muddy, or some are just colored that way.

 

[beautress]

He may have fallen out of a nearby tree we were under, and he may have just pupated, because he looked like he was flailing around, like the equivalent of getting his sea legs ready for use. He was rollicking from side to side on the ground. I know I did not run over him, but the sound of the Kubota may have shaken him to the ground. (pure speculation, but trying to wonder why a moth was out in broad daylight.) I know little of this one than what I just posted, but I'm pretty sure its the same moth. Just wonder why I got it confused with one from the United Kingdom/nearby vicinity. France has wild pignuts, too. I have something that is similar to it, but the umbel species on my land do not match Queen Anne's lace, which my mother had called something like it when we lived in Channelview, Texas, 75 miles south of here from 5th to 7th grades.

 

[badger2]

Yes, your first description of flying low to the grass brought back the vision though the name was still elusive, Ctenucha there were tons of them in Florida in the 1960s and they were day fliers. They are mostly grass feeders.

Ctenucha virginica hostplants

Agrostis canina, A. gigantea

Bromus inermis

Calamagrostis canadensis

Lolium perenne

Panicum capillare

Phleum pratense Poa pratensis

Iris sp.

 

[badger2]

The range of Ctenucha virginica does not coincide with the gulf states.

Ctenucha virginica Moth Photographer's Group
mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=8262

 

[beautress]

Wow, I looked all day for host plants and didn't find any. Thank you, badger2.

 

[badger2]

Apparently no Ctenucha occurs in Florida so those sightings are not verified. You can scroll down to see all representative Ctenucha in the U.S. and click on the number:

mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species_list.php?plate=22

If you can't retrieve the page, search the moth photographer's homepage under index for Arctiini. You either can verify a hostplant Conopodium growing nearby or capture a specimen for positive identification.

 

[beautress]

Agrostis canina,

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There is a map for the growth areas of Agrostis canina that are native. It shows the whole state of Tennessee. They have a new graphics system at USGS, and I cannot transfer it to here, but I can deliver the page to which all of us may access: Plants Profile for Agrostis canina (velvet bentgrass)
.... This was what they provided as a "save" and "share" I suppose:
USDA-NRCS-NGCE

+

lol!

A. gigantean
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[beautress]

The range of Ctenucha virginica does not coincide with the gulf states.

Ctenucha virginica Moth Photographer's Group
mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=8262

Oh. I was reading about one moth in Canada which went as far west as the Rockies. Walker County is south, it's true, but it is at least 700 miles east of the Rockies, so I thought perhaps it also moved west from Virginia. We're not subtropic 100 miles north of Galveston here, we freeze each winter, but lately only 3 or 4 days of freezing, before, it was sloppy cold from January 8 to the end of March sometimes. This was our one-day winter year, due to rain that was not slushy. We had a very odd winter. Last year 5 tornadoes ripped through my land, topping two tall pines, decimating a tree next to the house, it swirled around the house for 5 minutes, then hopped up leaving my roof intact. The neighbor lost his roof. He replaced, but moved last week, putting his 10 acre place up for sale. That wasn't much of a happy memory for his wife and daughters, I'm sure, not to mention 3 beautiful horses they own. I'm surprised to see all those caterpillars in the hayfield in the far outback here. I think they will turn into those black moths, but i'm not sure. They were 3" long, every one of them. I will know in a couple of weeks. I have a caterpillar book around here somewhere, but have been too busy sewing tops of baby quilts to think.

 

[beautress]

Bromus inermis​

Map where Bromus inermis grows, 2015:

Well it grows two counties north of here and 3 counties east.
Motivated birds could have carried a few seeds this way. My
land is full of wild grasses that like the soil, too many different kinds to count.
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[beautress]

It will take some time to find pics and maps for these, but I'm trying.

Calamagrostis canadensis, common name: bluejoint
Map (USDA) Plants Profile for Calamagrostis canadensis (bluejoint)
Calamagrostis canadensis shows all but the southern states growing this grass. I'm not sure farmers around here pay all that much attention to the grasses that grow here, they're usually too tired after baling from sunup to sundown to give heed to scientific names and identifications, etc. lol.
But while I refuse to transfer another map, here's a picture or picture of bluejoint grass:

It posted from the same area the other map didn't post from!
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Lolium perenne

Panicum capillare

Phleum pratense Poa pratensis

Iris sp.

 

[beautress]

Lolium perenne

Yes, I've seen this one around here, too, just like the others that are not supposed to be here.

Panicum capillare

Looks familiar, but I'm not sure I saw it here.
Lived in the Beaver State for 5 years on land
and Wyoming, 35 years, owned 40 acres there
I have seen this grass, my fields have lots of
grass types, just can't recall when and where.
We visited every zoo in the world & all the
butterfly and bird arboretums, including
the fantastic 4-story butterfly waterfall near the
Planetarium in Houston, where plants are specially
grown for butterflies, and it is the most wonderful place.

 

[beautress]

Poa pratensis aka Kentucky bluegrass. The entire north American map including Alaska, Canada and the 48 states are all colored in areas, but the website was not cooperating earlier today with sharing. It's USDA dot gov, too.

 

[Likkmee]

Oye beauty.
Go buy 3 of these
Hamelia patens