Jas from the Lab

Freaky Friday | Why did this butterfly keep landing on me? 🤔

Although I never got a picture, this Hackberry Emperor (Asterocampa celtis) landed on me a few times before finally leaving the area.

You’ll rarely, if ever, catch a Hackberry Emperor butterfly nectaring on flowers. They prefer to fulfill their sweet tooth on rotting fruit instead.

They are mostly caught “puddling” which is when butterflies will be found on mud, gravel, sweat, decaying matter, or even animal droppings to sip up minerals and salts that flowers don’t provide.

That same behavior is exactly why butterflies sometimes land on people. Your skin is actually a source of moisture and salt.

Puddling is one of the more overlooked butterfly behaviors because people usually associate butterflies with flowers, but many species can only be seen while pudding because they don’t prefer flowers to get their necessary sugars.

So when a butterfly lands on you, it may feel magical….but biologically, you’re basically a walking lick. 🤸🏾‍♀️ Observe a butterfly proboscis microscopically in the last photo.

A busy Mother’s Day indeed. 🐛🦋🌻

Relocated a venomous White-Tussock Moth caterpillar, saw an American Snout Butterfly, and observed some fascination up close!

Fasciation is an unusual plant growth mutation where flower heads become fused or oddly elongated instead of growing in their normal shape. It can be caused by things like genetic changes or environmental stress. Though it looks quite odd, it isn’t said to be harmful to the plant itself.

How cute is this Eight-Spotted Forester Moth? 🥹🖤🧡💛

Fun fact: Not all moths are night flyers. This critter, scientific name Alypia octomaculata, is known to visit flowers during the day and help in pollination.

This year, North Louisiana Refuges Complex is hosting two interns that are conducting pollinator research on all of our refuges. Part of the sampling method requires the installation of collection containers. If you happen upon these colorful cups placed on stakes on any of our refuges, please leave them alone. They will be removed once data collection is complete!

First Mourning Cloak Butterfly (Nymphalis antiopa) of the season captured in the first picture.

The lighting doesn’t do its colors justice. The rest are other times I’ve seen this gorgeous butterfly.

I only ever catch them “puddling.”

This week’s nature find was an unexpected one. 👀

The Forest Tent Caterpillar Moth (Malacosoma disstria) is a species best known for its larval stage in Springtime as many local residents are often slightly agitated at how…..plentiful 😅 these guys can be near Oak trees. The caterpillars are social and often move in large groups. They are known to defoliate trees, but healthy trees usually recover within the same season.

We know all these things, but, we never hear about the adult moths or give them any shine, until now.

Adult Moth Characteristics:

🦋 Light brown to tan with two thin, darker diagonal lines across each forewing
🦋 Wingspan ~1–1.5 inches
🦋 Short-lived (only about a week) and focused solely on reproduction and not feeding

The adults moths are small, lowkey critters and not as notorious as the caterpillars are.

April showers bring…😏

Before Sunrise ☀️🦋

Male Eastern Black Swallowtail