The MGS Forum
Gardening in mediterranean climates => Wildlife in the garden (birds, butterflies, and how to attract them) => Topic started by: Bolanthus on July 08, 2012, 01:17:00 PM
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The plant: Valeriana italica (syn V. dioscoridis) the butterfly: Zerynthia polyxena
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NGS434ynwK8/T8IwpkuquhI/AAAAAAAAACA/sGANNEHAxYA/s512/P4260141.JPG)
The plant: red valerian (Centranthus ruber), the butterfly: Papilio alexanor. I think that red valerians are great attractors for butterflies (these beautiful plants have also a prolonged flowering period on the mountain)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-66SXd62qJ-M/T8NlAmPRUxI/AAAAAAAAAFM/iClUUERzLgU/s512/P5100072.JPG)
Again a red valerian visited this time by a balkan marbled white
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-U-P2UR0E3w4/T_GHg3wuDhI/AAAAAAAAA2o/UsEDwtDbttg/s640/P6250045.JPG)
I have seen lots of small butterflies on bloomed Anthyllis hermanniae
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-hrrPqFF0Q8s/T8eiuCo-WoI/AAAAAAAAAKA/0Mvp0JXDa7o/s512/P5310052.JPG)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0Pz29DoGMP4/T8ej0C-PPmI/AAAAAAAAAKM/0AXsybLWD5c/s512/P5310054.JPG)
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-FK8ANkb6wUI/T8ek2gpE8bI/AAAAAAAAAKU/kFONOoVVUKA/s512/P5310051.JPG)
And this one was resting on a nearby Dorycnium hirsutum
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-UMrfUF9zygE/T8eltqoIJGI/AAAAAAAAAKc/AKHTWD4vW8o/s512/P5310055.JPG)
Scabiosa maritima also attracts butterflies
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-JpnWWJu118s/T8e_WHpdqmI/AAAAAAAAAM4/AMzhS2PwYrk/s512/P5310043.JPG)
And so does Cistus creticus ! (photographed on mount Dirfis)
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-GVox7nZUscA/T845IojXpnI/AAAAAAAAAXA/qsux6oJMM6U/s512/P6040041.JPG)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fHlRwCxvFCQ/T845taHL1cI/AAAAAAAAAXM/ddpoqBaLxw0/s512/P6040040.JPG)
The last butterfly that I happen to know is Iphiclides podalirius
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Bolanthus - gorgeous!
Beautiful subjects, so nicely captured. I enjoyed looking at them.
I wish my valerians would do better; perhaps would help if I planted them out (languishing in pots)!
And 'lots of' butterflies on Anthyllis hermanniae! I am tempted to try to get some of that.
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So beautiful those butterflies! I wish I could attract so many to my garden! I see some on my blooming ivy hedge. Buddleja davidii is a butterfly plant, but an invasive one (in both Spain and Switzerland, where I garden). Have to find out more about butterfly plants!
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Thanks :D
A few hours ago I was again on Hymettus and to my surprise there was a multitude of butterflies on Cephalaria ambrosioides, an impressive plant of the Scabious family that I think is worth trying in gardens. It is typically 1.50-1.70m tall and occasionally over 1.90m! -for more pictures of this plant you can see by clicking here http://rosa-sempervirens.blogspot.gr/2012/06/cephalaria-ambrosioides.html (http://rosa-sempervirens.blogspot.gr/2012/06/cephalaria-ambrosioides.html))
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ye5JHZYCFYo/T_niwfQrc9I/AAAAAAAAA6I/sNKpTTHEabI/s640/P7080111.JPG)
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iL_3W8VG0G8/T_nkZClw94I/AAAAAAAAA6Y/t6YT-oYC3H8/s640/P7080115.JPG)
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Fantastic thread Bolanthus, wonderful species.
Not from Mt. Dirfis, but from Mt. Meron in the upper Galilee, this morning while looking for an Allium i have maneged to take a photo of Limenities reducta. The caterpilers are fed on Lonicera etrusca.
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Thanks Bolanthus and Oron! Never seen those before!
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Some fascinating butterflies Bolanthus and Oron!
Never have seen Papilio alexanor - here in the western part of the mediterranean the similar Papilio machaon is common - as this one I saw in the garden yesterday.
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oh, my pleasure to shoot and share those photos :)
And Oron, what a coincidence... I also found some L. reducta on mt Hymettus today and tried to shoot -unsuccessfully- a decent photo. They wouldn't stay still on Corydothymus capitatus, the plant that I, the bees, and -as it seems- L. reducta also love!
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-zeK6MRrM8Zg/T_oK7TdwE4I/AAAAAAAAA6s/hTfiA9gnFY0/s512/P7080040.JPG)
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Wonderful photographs Bolanthus - thank you. :) My efforts to photograph the many butterflies I get in the garden end up as blurs :(
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Oh, come on, guys, please ... you're making me salivate with all these lovely photos of lovely butterflies and moths!
Re your Cephalaria ambrosioides photo, Bolanthus: the English name for Euplagia quadripunctaria is Jersey tiger moth.
Re Papilio machaon, the 'ordinary' swallowtail. I'd be interested to hear about observations of any unusual behaviour, especially from Cyprus members, as I am compiling information for an article for the Cyprus Butterfly Study Group. For instance across much of its range, it uses fennel as its larval food plant, but in my area it uses Crithmum maritimum (rock samphire) (see photos).
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Mike, as I have already posted the swallowtails in my area always make a 'bee-line' (sorry) for the Crithmum. I have never found their caterpillers on any other plant, although when we move them to the parsley (it's going over by then and they can clear up the older foliage) they seem to survive. We grow Florence fennel but I've never found any evidence of preference for that, it's always the Crithmum that they go for.
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Mike,
In this part of the Mediterranean Papilio machon is fed on Foeniculum vulgare leaves in the early seoson, then mainly on Ruta graveolens, as foeniculum leaves dry out in summer.
This is why i grow few plants of Ruta in my garden, as douznes of buterflies are born here each year.
Ruta is also grown here againts the evill eye... you can never know.... :-[
By the way the caterpiler in your photo is still young, it still poses the 'thorny' hairs on its back.
Mature caterpilers do not have it.
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Oron - good stuff - thank you
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Oh, come on, guys, please ... you're making me salivate with all these lovely photos of lovely butterflies and moths!
Re your Cephalaria ambrosioides photo, Bolanthus: the English name for Euplagia quadripunctaria is Jersey tiger moth.
Thank you MikeHardman for the correction, they are indeed moths and not butterflies -though fairly diurnal as it seems :)
It is the same species that covers the tree trunks in the valley of the butterflies in Rhodes every summer. (I guess you knew that :)
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Bolanthus - valley of the butterflies - no I didn't know that - thank you,
but I've Googled it now; interesting;
good to talk!
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Bolanthus, Jersey Tiger moths (Euplagia quadripunctaria) are also those seen in the valley of butterflies on Paros. A few have escaped and taken up residence in our garden, a few kilometres down the road. I didn't know they could also be found on Mt Hymettus - in its shadier/cooler corners perhaps(?)
Oron, our swallowtails also feed on Foeniculum vulgare and Ruta graveolens (Rue) - no tasty Crithmum for them.
For a few days in October almost two years ago our Tamarisks were covered in clouds of Painted Ladies (Vanessa cardui).
Below are some photos of "our" butterflies/moths:
Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) on autumn-flowering Tamarisk
Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius) on Lantana camara
Southern Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus) on Lavandula
Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) on Lantana camara
Hummingbird Hawkmoth (Macroglossum stellatarum) on Lantana camara
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Alice,
More nice piccies; we are so lucky to have these wondrous creatures as mobile decorations to our gardens; and companions as we garden.
Thanks for your observation re swallowtails.
Just a thought: is your Pyronia tithonus actually Maniola halicarnassus ?
(http://www.adameros.org/contents/icerik/Tumb/336_293_866420_23052011123919.jpg)
That image comes from http://www.adameros.org/IcerikDetay.asp?IcerikKatId=3&TurId=293; it is at the bottom-right of that page, where a little info can be seen in the caption.
It would be nice if you have it on Paros, as it seems it is 'Known only from Nissyros and the adjacent Turkish coast'
(http://users.auth.gr/~efthymia/Butterflies/halicarnassus.html). I note Paros is about 185km west of Nissyros.
Thomson identified it as a new species in SW Turkey only in 1990 - relatively recently.
Maniola chia is also a possibility (restricted to the Greek island of Chios and Oinousses according to recent records, I know); Chios is NE of Paros. Example photo: http://www.theinsectcollector.com/acatalog/info_3948.html
There's a useful paper on these and close relatives, including specimen photos and distribution maps - http://dpc.uba.uva.nl/ctz/vol73/nr04/art05.
I am suspicious of Pyronia because, with both the Greek species, Pp. tithonus and cecilia, the base colour of the forewing upperside is more plain - whereas yours has more patterning, especially towards the base.
http://users.auth.gr/~efthymia/Butterflies/tithonus_cecilia.html
(from the provisional species list at http://users.auth.gr/~efthymia/Butterflies/Butterflies_of_Greece.html).
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Bolanthus, Jersey Tiger moths (Euplagia quadripunctaria) are also those seen in the valley of butterflies on Paros. A few have escaped and taken up residence in our garden, a few kilometres down the road. I didn't know they could also be found on Mt Hymettus - in its shadier/cooler corners perhaps(?)
Yes Alice, a common species on Hymettus and I don’t think they care for the shade or the cooler corners -at least when they are feeding on C. abrosioides! I have read that the famous "butterflies" of Rhodes (a distinct subspecies) have no stomach and rely on energy resources from the previous stage, but those ones on Hymettus must have one!
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-XHmDT39i8hY/T_4D59L0BbI/AAAAAAAAA8E/-JwyvYNiE1Q/s576/ceph.jpg)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-NyamVASKYvE/T_4D55s_EQI/AAAAAAAAA8I/EcDY473q33g/s576/cepha.jpg)
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Mike, thank you so much for all the information. It would be really exciting if a Maniola species had made it all the way from Nissyros, the Turkish coast or even Chios.
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Bolanthus, your Euplagia quadripunctaria are positively on a feeding frenzy! If the famous ones from the valleys of the butterflies are a distinct subspecies without a stomach, that would explain why I have never seen them feeding but only resting in the shade of oleanders or Aptenia cordifolia.
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Yes, we visited the Jersey Tiger moths on Paros last year and they were all sitting still in patterns as if choreographed. I'm happy you included a photo of a Hummingbird Hawkmoth, Alice, first so that I now know its name, and second because I always smile when I see one.
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re hummingbird hawk moths (hhm)...
I can't complain too much about the assortment of wildlife we have here in Cyprus, but if I could have two wishes for additions to the fauna, they'd be: fireflies and hummingbirds; we have none of those. In lieu of hummingbirds, the hhms make a good stand-in. They may not argue like hummingbirds, but they are great little characters.
I know little creatures 'live' faster than us (faster heartbeats, quicker reactions, etc.), but I'm still impressed when I watch a hhm feeding at (eg.) Lantana flowers. They flit from floret to floret, perhaps on different inflorescences, with unerring targetting and great rapidity. One is forced to think that while they are feeding from one floret, they are planning which one to flit to next, or maybe a couple of moves ahead - like a chess player. And in such planning, do they know their patch well enough that they don't need to see the next flower before arriving there? Or while feeding at one flower, are they able to avert their imaging mentally (they can't swivel their eyes but they can turn their head a little) to assess adjacent flowers/florets? If only we could ask them, and have them answer!
BTW, I think hhm is a good abbreviation, because it is somewhat reminiscent of the sound of their wings :)
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I hope someone can tell me which salvia this is, that we saw last autumn being enjoyed by a humming-bird hawk moth in a private garden on Mallorca.
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Alisdair
Looks like Salvia involucrata 'Hadspens'
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Thanks for that, Oron!
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Mike, having said previously that I have never seen swallowtails showing any preference for our fennel this morning I spotted one flitting around a patch of rather sparse, dry foliage. A closer look showed this little guy. He may be in for a hard time finding enough to eat as the fennel foliage at this time of year is very dry and hardly nutritious, as Oron pointed out in an earlier posting. I'll watch his progress with interest.
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That's good, John. Yes, I hope he makes it.
Today I noticed a sardinian warbler on our Crithmum. He soon found a tiny swallowtail caterpillar, and eat it (after a bit of flicking it around). A juvenile sparrow watched him, then went searching himself, though I didn't see him find any. Despite their spines when young and bright colouration later, the caterpillars are obviously not free from predators.
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I found this young chap this morning on a pot of rather dessicated mint. I believe he was newly emerged and drying his wings.
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Isn't he lovely! Nice find, John.
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In this part of the Mediterranean Papilio machon is fed on Foeniculum vulgare leaves in the early seoson, then mainly on Ruta graveolens, as foeniculum leaves dry out in summer.
... having said previously that I have never seen swallowtails showing any preference for our fennel this morning I spotted one flitting around a patch of rather sparse, dry foliage. A closer look showed this little guy. He may be in for a hard time finding enough to eat as the fennel foliage at this time of year is very dry and hardly nutritious, as Oron pointed out in an earlier posting. I'll watch his progress with interest.
The current edition of Pacific Horticulture includes a note that though most caterpillars thrive on native plants, in California the caterpillar of the anise swallowtail Papilio zelicaon is often found on Mediterranean fennel - a common weed there. Butterfly lovers united to fight a proposal to eliminare fennel from San Francisco on the grounds that it had become such a valuable food resource for the local swallowtail.
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The swallowtails are back, found this chap on a fennel this morning.
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T'rific John,
Keep an eye out for the pupa(e); I have yet to see one of those.
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In past years Swallowtails have shown a preference for Crithmum as a host plant but this year I haven't found one on my plants so far. Instead they seem to have gone for the fennel.
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I haven't seen any caterpillars on Crithmum this year, but I have seen a female ovipositing on the plant...
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I haven't seen many Swallowtail caterpillars on the Crithmum this year but spotted this one today.
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... in contrast, I have seen more.
But maybe because I was looking closely. I needed to shear a run of about 3m along the dry stone wall. So I hunted for the little caterpillars, to move them to a different patch of Crithmum. I found 15.
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Good to hear, Mike. We've had very few Swallowtails in evidence this year in our area.