dogface & egg???
While looking through some of my photos I noticed what seems to be an egg beside this butterfly. I think this is a southern dogface? There are several butterflies that look close in resemblance. Could you tell me if this is in fact a dogface and is that possibly one of it’s eggs? This pic was taken in October this year.
Scott from Austin Texas
Hi Scott,
According to BugGuide, “larvae [of the Dogface] feed on legumes” and to the best of our botanical knowledge, the plant in this wonderful photograph is not a legume. That would indicate that is was either an errantly placed Southern Dogface Egg, or more likely, the egg of some other insect. The plant appears to be a fuschia, though we are not certain. If the plant is a fuschia, the egg might be from a White Lined Sphinx, Hyles lineata.
Daniel,
Your guess is reasonable. It looks like a Sphingid egg and lineata would be a good choice.
Bill Oehlke