Our Wet season is the ideal time for caterpillars since that is when their food plants are growing best, so it makes sense that the Wet is also peak butterfly mating and egg-laying time. In the last week or so I have seen lots of Migrants, Eggflies and Crows and observed both mating and egg-laying; I have also seen a few Hawk-moths and know they have been similarly busy. Here are two caterpillar stories from the last few days.
The Common Crow
The very colourful caterpillar of the Common Crow, Euploea core, on a Desert Rose
Don Herbison-Evans says this caterpillar is usually found on Oleander but is also known to feed on Frangipani. The Desert Rose, Adenium obesum, is a member of the family Apocynaceae, as are both of these, so the Desert Rose is a logical addition to the list. The adult butterfly is a rather plain black and white creature, as the name suggests:
Common Crow, Euploea core, on snakeweed (an exotic pest species, but the butterflies love it) on Cape Pallarenda.
I saw one of them alight on the Desert Rose, curl its abdomen around and lay an egg … then went and got my camera:
Egg of Common Crow on Desert Rose
The egg is about 1.5 x 1 mm and a close-up of it is here. What will happen to it when the flower opens, I wonder?
The Hawk-moth
Young Hawk-moth caterpillar on what’s left of a pentas leaf, one of their favourite foods – in our garden, at least
Hawk-moths are quite large and heavily built and so are their caterpillars but this is a very young one, about as thick as a toothpick and two-thirds as long. The tail-spine and the eye-spots are characteristic. A gallery of older individuals, both caterpillars and adult moths, may be seen here.
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