Subject: West Los Angeles sighting – Gulf Fritilary – 1
Location: West Los Angeles
June 20, 2017 1:52 pm
Hi Bugman,
Here’s the next set of pictures. Hope you enjoy them.
Signature: Jeff Bremer
Mating Gulf Fritillaries
Dear Jeff,
It is going to take a chunk of time to correctly edit the posting to contain your awesome images depicting the life cycle of the Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, a common Southern California butterfly. We have decided to begin the posting with your awesome image of a pair of mating Gulf Fritillaries, a logical place to begin a life cycle, and we will add to the posting as we reformat your images. This has prompted us to initiate a new tag of Buggy Life Cycles to house both this and your previous Anise Swallowtail documentation.
Gulf Fritillary ovipositing on passionvine.
Hatchling Gulf Fritillary caterpillar (right)
Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar
Pre-Pupal Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar
Pre-Pupal Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar with, possibly, a parasitic Wasp (right)
Hi Daniel,
This is the second time you’ve spotted a parasitic wasp in one of my pictures. Is there anything I can, or should, do about this? I understand the wasp has as much right to exist as the butterflies, but I can’t help feeling protective over the caterpillars.
Thx, Jeff
Gulf Fritillary Chrysalis
Sorry Jeff,
We can’t think of a way for you to protect the early stages of butterflies from parasitoids unless you raise the caterpillars in a container with a fine mesh screen.
Gulf Fritillary
Gulf Fritillary
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