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| Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanilla) on Coyote mint (Monardella villosa) |
Bright orange butterflies are now
flitting through many Southern California gardens. A bit smaller and brighter than the Monarchs,
they seem particularly attracted to the pink and purple flowers in Mother
Nature’s Backyard. These colorful
visitors are the Gulf Fritillaries (Agraulis vanillae).
Gulf Fritillaries are medium-sized butterflies with a
wingspan of 2.5-3.75 inches (6-9.5 cm).
They are members of the Family Nymphalidae, the brush-foot butterflies,
which includes such well-loved locals as the Monarch, Red Admiral and the
Painted, West Coast and American Lady butterflies. While this large family is found world-wide,
the brush-foots are most plentiful in the tropics. In fact, the Gulf Fritillary, itself, is best
considered a tropical butterfly.
The name ‘brush-foot’ refers to the front legs,
which are short or rudimentary, hairy and not used for walking. North American brush-foot butterflies are
often medium-sized, with showy colors or patterning, and rigid, clubbed
antennae (knobs at the ends). The vein
pattern of the forewings is also unique to this family. You can see all of these characteristics in
the picture below.
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| Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanilla) on Purple sage (Salvia leucophylla) |
The Gulf Fritillary belongs to the sub-family Heliconiiae, the heliconians or long-wings. These, mostly tropical, butterflies have an
elongated forewing and are often brightly colored in shades of orange and
black. Their colors ‘announce’ that they
are toxic; like the Monarchs, long-wing larvae feed primarily on poisonous
tropical plants.
The geographic distribution of the Gulf Fritillary,
which feeds on Passion-vines, is limited by the availability of this larval
food plant. While native to South and
Central America, the West Indies and the American South, its range spread to
California with the inclusion of Passion-vines in local gardens. The first recorded sighting in Southern
California is from the 1870’s [1].
Gulf Fritillaries are colorful and distinctive
whether viewed from either the upper or lower side. Females are only slightly larger and less
brightly colored than the males. In both
sexes, the upper side is bright red-orange with prominent black veins on the
elongated forewing. The patterns are very regular, symmetric and
attractive. The border of orange circles
(edged in black) on the hind wing resembles a lacy edging. There are also some symmetric, black and
black-white dots on the upper side (see photo above). For more good photographs, see references 2
& 3 at the end of the post.
The underside of these butterflies is even more
enchanting. While not as bright, the
underside sports distinctive shiny, translucent patches rimmed in black. These large blotches flash silver with
motion, a distinctive feature visible even in flight. No other local garden
butterfly has these large, silvery patches; they are the best identifying
characteristic for the Gulf Fritillary.
But that’s not all! This is truly a lovely and
exotic butterfly when seen close-up. Closer observation reveals the intricate
coloration of the body and unusual orange eyes with dark spots (above). Fortunately, Agraulis vanillae is fairly easy to photograph. It’s relatively large and slow-flying; and it
perches and feeds regularly, making it a good subject for insect
photography. For more tips on
photographing butterflies see: http://mother-natures-backyard.blogspot.com/2015/07/life-friendly-gardening-photographing.html.
The larvae (caterpillars) are also distinctive. Since we’re a California native plant garden
(sans non-native Passion Vines) we haven’t any photographs. But wonderful photos of the complete life
cycle are available from the Rio Grande Valley Nature Site: http://www.thedauphins.net/id113.html. The larvae are orange and black striped, with
rings of black spines around the body.
You’ve likely seen them if you have the right Passion Vine in your
yard. The larval coloration signals
‘don’t eat me – I’m poisonous’. For more
on Gulf Fritillaries, Passion vines and poisons see: http://bugoftheweek.com/blog/2015/2/23/beautiful-but-stinky-gulf-fritillary-iagraulis-vanillaei.
Many adult Gulf Fritillaries live
only a few weeks, although some will overwinter in warm locations. These older
adults often look quite tattered by spring.
Males can be seen cruising the garden, searching for females, most
months of the year in western Los Angeles County. Females lay their mound-shaped eggs on the
larval food plants.
Gulf Fritillary caterpillars eat
several species of Passion Vines (Passaflora
species) including Passiflora incarnata (Purple passionvine or maypops; native to Eastern U.S)
and P. foetida (Stinking
passionflower, Corona de Cristo or Running pop; native to tropical Americas).
Both of these plants can be invasive; in fact, the Purple passionvine is a
serious invasive pest plant in the Gardena Willows Wetland Preserve. So while Passion Vines attract Gulf
Fritillaries, we have a love-hate relationship with them in our Preserve. We’ve been known to call it ‘Hate it with a
Passion Vine’ as we work to remove it!
The Agraulis vanillae chrysalis (cocoon) looks like a
dried leaf hanging from the vine. This
is another great example of the ways in which butterflies have evolved multiple
mechanisms (toxic chemicals; mimicry and camouflage) to insure survival of the
species. See references 2 & 3 for good chrysalis pictures.
Adult Gulf Fritillaries nectar on a variety of native and non-native
plants. In Mother Nature’s Backyard,
they tend to favor purple-flowered species in the Mint family including Coyote
Mint (Monardella villosa), the
Woodmints (Stachys species) and the
native sages (Salvia species). Of course they flock to tropical flowers like
the popular Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia
species) and the Lantanas. They also
frequent native and non-native plants in the Sunflower family.
In their native range, Gulf Fritillaries live in
open areas like fields or openings in the tropical forests. Here in California, you’ll see them in
urban/suburban gardens or areas near gardens with Passion vines. Growers raise Gulf Fritillaries for sale and
they are released for weddings and other celebrations [1]. This has likely helped increase their numbers
in recent years. In fact, they are a
very common butterfly in Southern California and not endangered anywhere in
their range.
We hope you enjoy watching these pretty butterflies
as much as we do. But don’t feel you
need to plant a Passion vine – the abundance of Gulf Fritillaries in most
neighborhoods is a clear indication that we have enough Passion vines already!
___________________________
2.
Butterflies and Moths of North America: http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Agraulis-vanillae
4.
Bug of the Week: http://bugoftheweek.com/blog/2015/2/23/beautiful-but-stinky-gulf-fritillary-iagraulis-vanillaei
We encourage your comments below.
If you have questions about garden butterflies or other gardening topics
you can e-mail us at : mothernaturesbackyard10@gmail.com
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