Today was a damp, but beautiful Sunday. It's Febuary 18th, and I was pleasantly surprised with this beauty. She is a Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae), and she has laid the first egg of 2018. I barely was able to get my phone out fast enough to catch her in action. Thankfully I got it.
This egg was taken into the Hatch House, and will be reared & released back into the garden. The host plant (caterpillar food) for Gulf Fritillaries are Passionflora species. This will be reared on Passionflora Incarnata alba. Because this early in the year, that is the only one that is growing. Everything else is just popping out of the ground.
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There are three other butterflies that use the same host plant here in South Texas, they are, Zebra longwing (Heliconius charithonia), Julia heliconian (Dryas iulia), and the Variegated fritillary (Euptoieta claudia). Over the next few days, I'll discuss more in detail about each of them. But today, I want to just enjoy the beauty of the first egg of 2018.
So until next time, Peace, Love, and Butterflies ✌🏼💝🦋🦋
