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urban_nature)
We saw tons of mourningcloak (Nymphalis antiopa) caterpillars this summer. I haven't seen this many for years. When I was a kid, they used to colonize the few elm trees on my street, but the city began spraying the trees for pests, and they became a lot rarer. Lots of people don't like the caterpillars because they are spiky and scary looking, and leave lots of droppings beneath whatever tree they are feeding on. This website has some nice background infomation on them, and it's even from my county! :)
http://www.dbc.uci.edu/~pjbryant/biodiv/lepidopt/nymph/mcloak.htm
We noticed this small tree in June. I'm not sure; I think its a type of Australian willow. I walk past it from the bus stop to my house. There were so many caterpillars, they completely stripped it of leaves three times over the summer. I never noticed so many on any other tree on my street, even though there are others of the same type only a few houses away. The third time caterpillars appeared on the tree, they got about half grown and then one day I came home from work to find that the property owners had ripped the entire tree out of the ground.
Shortly after the tree disappeared, we found a dozen or so caterpillars climbing on the front of our house, hanging upside down by their back pair of prolegs in a J-shape, getting ready to pupate. They soon molted and turned into spiky chysalises.
It almost seems like the chrysalises match their surrounding colors, although maybe this is just reflected light. This one looks gray, like the tree trunk it's attached to.
I've always thought the bottom end of these chrysalises resembles an owl's face; there's a ridge in center like a beak, two tiny orange dots on either side of it for eyes, and radiating points around the bottom edge look like owl's ears. This one looks reddish to blend in with bricks.
Newly emerged mourningcloak next to empty chrysalis on the ceiling of our front porch. This was one of more than a dozen on the front of our house.
This one picked one of the kid's toy wagons to pupate on.
The website states, "Although common throughout much of North America, this butterfly is rare and much desired in England. It is known there by the common name of the Camberwell Beauty, and only occurs as a stray from mainland Europe."
Uploaded to flickr lj_urban_nature group - Los Angeles
urban_nature)We saw tons of mourningcloak (Nymphalis antiopa) caterpillars this summer. I haven't seen this many for years. When I was a kid, they used to colonize the few elm trees on my street, but the city began spraying the trees for pests, and they became a lot rarer. Lots of people don't like the caterpillars because they are spiky and scary looking, and leave lots of droppings beneath whatever tree they are feeding on. This website has some nice background infomation on them, and it's even from my county! :)
http://www.dbc.uci.edu/~pjbryant/biodiv/lepidopt/nymph/mcloak.htm
We noticed this small tree in June. I'm not sure; I think its a type of Australian willow. I walk past it from the bus stop to my house. There were so many caterpillars, they completely stripped it of leaves three times over the summer. I never noticed so many on any other tree on my street, even though there are others of the same type only a few houses away. The third time caterpillars appeared on the tree, they got about half grown and then one day I came home from work to find that the property owners had ripped the entire tree out of the ground.
Shortly after the tree disappeared, we found a dozen or so caterpillars climbing on the front of our house, hanging upside down by their back pair of prolegs in a J-shape, getting ready to pupate. They soon molted and turned into spiky chysalises.
It almost seems like the chrysalises match their surrounding colors, although maybe this is just reflected light. This one looks gray, like the tree trunk it's attached to.
I've always thought the bottom end of these chrysalises resembles an owl's face; there's a ridge in center like a beak, two tiny orange dots on either side of it for eyes, and radiating points around the bottom edge look like owl's ears. This one looks reddish to blend in with bricks.
Newly emerged mourningcloak next to empty chrysalis on the ceiling of our front porch. This was one of more than a dozen on the front of our house.
This one picked one of the kid's toy wagons to pupate on.
The website states, "Although common throughout much of North America, this butterfly is rare and much desired in England. It is known there by the common name of the Camberwell Beauty, and only occurs as a stray from mainland Europe."
Uploaded to flickr lj_urban_nature group - Los Angeles
