By Kathy Feagan
Did you know that Texas is considered to be one of the most diverse states for butterflies with over 442 species recorded? Arizona is home to 325 and California only 250 species. And, more butterflies are recorded in Cameron, Starr and Hidalgo counties than in the entire eastern North American continent.
Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus) are quite small, with ¾ to1-1/4” wingspan and can be gray to light blue in color. Their range covers all of North America and south as far as Venezuela, and they are very common in Texas. They got their name from the hairlike lines crossing the wings as well as their long-tailed hindwings. The tails have eyespots to help evade predators. The caterpillar eats fruits and leaves while the butterfly eats the nectar of many flowers, rather than any particular host plants. Unlike most butterflies with specific hosts, Gray Hairstreak butterfly and caterpillar are attracted to more than 20 plant families but especially mallow, buckwheat, bean and pea families as well as maize, shrubs, trees and even cotton. They help with pollination of milkweeds, goldenrods, clovers and many other species. They mate in early spring, usually at night. Males are very territorial and defend their perch areas from other Hairstreaks who attempt to mate females there. The female lays her eggs the following afternoon. The egg hatches the caterpillar after about 5-6 days. The caterpillar emerges and remains in the larval stage for 3 to 4 weeks. Ants often harvest liquid (honeydew) from the hinds of caterpillars and help protect it from predators. The caterpillar bores a hole and goes into the pod of the host plant. The caterpillar then creates the chrysalis and finally the butterfly emerges in about 20 days, growing and maturing. The adult lives for about 10 days and lays several broods. You will see them here beginning in the spring. They overwinter in chrysalis. They are important pollinators of milkweeds, goldenrods, mints and clovers.
Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) grow to about 2-3”, have black wings, a white stripe and, when their wings are open, you will see a red band of color (like chevrons on navy uniforms) on its forewings and a red margin band on the hindwings. When their wings are closed, they resemble Painted Lady butterflies and even sometimes migrate with them. They visit many flowers for nectar and also drink from wet surfaces that provide electrolytes and minerals (wicking). They are very attracted to oozing sap, dung and fermenting fruits. They often light and sit on human’s shoulders, hats and hands and are considered quite friendly. They are one of the most widely found butterflies throughout most of North and South America, Europe, Asia and northern Africa. They like moist places where they find their host plant, nettles, as well as forests, grassy areas, mesquites, plains, gardens and yards. The nettles family includes more than 50 different plant genus which are found globally. In Texas, they mostly winter in the southern part of the state. They go through a four-stage cycle of life, beginning as an egg, which hatches a caterpillar, which forms a chrysalis which births the butterfly. The caterpillar eats close to twice its weight each day and grows very fast. It sheds the outer layer of skin up to 5 times (molting) before forming the chrysalis, which hatches in about a week. The chrysalis are hung under leaves for camouflage and look like dead, dried leaves. Caterpillars mostly feed on flowers in the Aster family. When the Red Admiral hatches, its wings are crumpled into balls at the sides of the body. Then, the Red Admiral pumps a fluid into the wing veins which causes them to expand, much like a kite. Here in Texas, they usually produce 2 broods from March to October. Their eggs are cream to green covered with smalls ‘hairs’ which helps them camouflage on nettle leaves.
Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) one of the most common butterflies in the world, appears dusky and a bit speckled when her wings are folded. But, once she opens her wings, her bold orange and black colors shine. Painted Ladies migrate up to 9.000 miles (sometimes at up to 30 miles per hour and up to 100 miles per day), throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia, Central America and Africa. Here, they migrate in huge numbers, sometimes in the millions, into Texas from Mexico, across their natural range of the entire U.S. They have been found on every continent except Anartica and Australia. They return south flying so high the south-bound winds blow them hundreds of miles with little effort. They favor open areas as well as scrub areas. They grow to about a 2” wingspan and feed on many nectars, but especially thistles and common weeds. They start life as an egg (laid singly) and hatch in a few days. The resulting caterpillars grow very rapidly, eating twice their body weight each day. Painted Lady caterpillars feed mainly on flowers in the Aster family and molt up to five times before forming the chrysalis, which hatches the butterfly within a week. Their erratic, spinning flying methods have been studied for refining a new class of flying machine, micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) by John Hopkins University. They have used 3-D cameras to study the butterfly’s agility and maneuverability. Males start courtship by finding a mate based on color and wing patterns. Once they find a suitable mate, the male approaches the female and engages in intricate flying displays and shows of physical suitability, hoping to be chosen by the female. Then, the female lays her eggs on the underside of leaves of her host plants of thistle and asters. Painted Lady butterflies engage in ‘continuous mating’ as they migrate and search for good breeding and feeding grounds. The continuous mating maximizes their reproductive abilities by mating with many partners throughout their migrating journey. This increases successful fertilization and genetic diversity within the species. Typically, a female can lay 200 to 500 eggs through her lifetime of one to two months. The resulting caterpillar lives about 14 days eating asters, daisies, black-eyed susans and milkweed. They then enter a pre-pupal stage, stop eating and leave their host plant to find a good place to pupate and attach themselves with silk to metamorphose into chrysalis, which hatches the adult in about a week. After hatching, it takes around 2 hours for the butterfly’s wings to expand and harden. They become mature and ready to mate within a few days while sunning themselves and feeding on nectar from flowers.
Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis) is a brush-footed butterfly who grows to 2-3” wingspan and a hooked forewing that is bright orange and brown with black spots, and short ‘tails’. Its hindwing in summer is black and is more orange in the fall. It’s underside is light brown with a silvery white question mark on the lower side. Adults are rarely found on flowers, instead they engage in ‘mud-puddling’, sucking up the fluids of tree sap, dung, fermenting fruit, mud, dead matter in decomposition and even blood. This helps them obtain needed essential nutrients. When they can’t find ‘puddling’ sources, they eat nectar from asters, milkweeds and pepperbush. If you want to attract them, put watermelon rinds or over ripe fruit (in a shallow pan of water to deter ants) in your yard or garden. They lay their eggs on mostly non-host plants. The adult lays her green eggs singly, or sometimes stacked, under plant leaves. The caterpillar then must find its hosts: elms, hops, sugarberry, hackberry, nettles and false nettles. Their range is the entire east coast and southern Canada west to the edge of the Rocky Mountains and south to Mexico. Question Marks butterflies have a life cycle (consisting of 2 cycles per year, starting in spring through May) of 1-2 weeks as egg, 3-4 weeks as caterpillar, 1-2½ weeks in chrysalis and up to 20 days as adults. The summer adults emerge and fly from May to September, laying eggs that will later develop into their winter form of adults, overwintering in shelter or migrating to southern regions. The second generation is winter sheltered and start appearing in August. They can be found in woods, swamps, gardens and fields. They camouflage in trees as their scalloped, ragged looking wing shape looks like a dead leaf when folded over the body.
Sleepy Orange (Abaeis nicippe) are a yellow-orange with small blackspots and a wingspan of 1-1/4 to 2-1/4”. They get their name from the red blotches underwing that looks like closed eyes. Males are entirely orange and have sharply defined black borders while females are a paler color with streaks and are less sharply defined. In summer, they are more golden yellow while the winter form are reddish brown to tan and more heavily pattered. Males search for females in mesquite grasslands, open woodlands and roadsides, often basking in the sun. Their flight pattern is low to the ground, erratic and fast. They have 4-5 flights all year in South Texas and in the deep southern U.S. In northern climates, they fly from mid to late summer. Their range is the southern quarter of the U.S. south to South America. Adults eat the nectar of many flowers including Shepherd’s needle. You will often see males around puddles of rain or cattle urine. The butterfly overwinter in reproductive diapause. Sleepy Orange butterflies have the ability to adapt to different environments, from swamps to open woodlands, to meadows and gardens. Their life cycle from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to adult takes about 25 days. They lay eggs singly on the underside of leaves of larval host plants in the Senna family, and flowers in the pea family. The eggs are a pale green when laid and turn red just before it is time to hatch. The caterpillar’s host plants are Desert Senna, Partridge Pea and Wild Sensitive plants. They are also attracted to Bird of Paradise, Lantana, Esperanza, Milkweeds and Butterfly weed. .
American Snout (Libytheana carinenta) have a wingspan of 1-3/8 to 2”. They get their name from their distinctive ‘snout’ of elongated mouthparts. Their coloration is mottled black to brown, orange and white. They often perch on tree branches with folded wings and camouflage as dead, gray leaves. When in danger, they raise their forewings to scare predators with a flash of orange. Males seek females around their host plants of hackberry, aster, dogwood, goldenrod, dogbane and other flowering plants from which they eat nectar. Their main food source is hackberry, which provides food for them and whose berries are very important winter food for birds. They have 2 broods each year. First in May to June, second in August. The yellow-green eggs are laid in groups on leaves of their host trees. When the caterpillars emerge, they eat from their hosts: sunflower family, ironweed, pearly everlasting and hackberry’s young, tender leaves. Caterpillars rest along the midribs of leaves they feed upon, helping to hide themselves from predators. They mimic small snakes by arching their bodies and tucking their heads when startled. They are found in clearings and edges of forests, roadsides, mesquite thorn scrubs, brushy fields and gardens.
Their range from June to October is from South America through Mexico to the southern U.S. From there they also migrate to California, parts of Nevada, Colorado to most of the eastern coast. Here in Texas, they are known for their incredible migration, especially after heavy rain following drought, which can be so populated they cause the skies to darken from the size of their swarms. The drought periods reduce parasitoids that limit Snout butterfly populations and then the rain following the droughts cause the hackberry to grow new leaves. They broke records in 1921 in South Texas in a southeastern migration of over 250 miles with approximately 25 million migrating per minute. This flight took 18 days and it was estimated that about 6 billion butterflies took part (per Cable and Baker 1922). They are highly attracted to spiny hackberry, which quickly puts new leaves after rains, and is their main source for fueling these long flights. According to Texas Entomologist Mike Quinn, they migrate out of where they overpopulated and exhausted their food supply, seeking new mates and food. According to Texas Entomology (www.texasento.net>snout), “It must be emphasized that the snout’s mass directional movements are not migratory in the traditional sense, that is, north in the spring and south in the fall. Snouts move locally from patch to patch of suitable habitat. Typical uneven rainfall across south Texas creates uneven patches of suitable hackberry shrubs. Gilbert reported snouts in 1976 moving in three different directions east of I-35 (see map), with one flight actually reversing directions between morning and afternoon! Gilbert reports that snouts generally fly at speeds ranging from 5 to 8 mph, hardly the speed necessary for long distance migrations.” These types of explosions in populations resulting in Texas migrations have been observed in 1921, 1978, 1996, 2018 and 2020 as heavy rain ‘wakes’ them from a sort of hibernation. There have also been many other similar observations of such incidents in Arizona, Kansas and Lake Erie Islands.
If you have any questions, call the Taylor County Extension Office at 325-672-6048 or email us at mgardeners@yahoo.com. We hope you visit bcmgtx.org for information on all Big Country Master Gardener events, like us on BCMGA Facebook and Instagram, and check out training presentations on the BCMGA YouTube channel. We are here to help you.
