Starr County Butterflies
Female Ovipositing (photo:
Kristy Baker)
Fresh Egg (June, 2016)
Second instar (January, 2026)
Third instar
Fourth instar
Fifth instar, early in development
5th instar, same caterpillar 3 days after previous picture
Pupa
Fresh adult male Blue-eyed Sailor, ventral
Fresh adult male Blue-eyed Sailor, dorsal
In 2016, I observed a female Blue-eyed Sailor ovipositing on Brush Noseburn, Tragia glanduligera, in my yard. I located a couple of eggs, which I put in my greenhouse on potted Noseburn just before going out of town. I found the caterpillars on my return, but they soon died. (I suspect some environmental condition, whether human or natural, was in play because numerous other unrelated caterpillars, both in captivity and free, died around the same time period.)
Fast forward to December 2025. Kristy Baker found a female in her yard on December 11, and observed her laying eggs over a period of two weeks (December 13-27). An additional female was seen once, briefly. Kristy photographed the original female ovipositing on her Noseburn (first picture to the right). She invited me to collect some caterpillars for rearing, which I was delighted to do. On January 4 we found several larvae, ranging from second to final instar. Most of these caterpillars were near the ends of the vines. The caterpillars were kept individually in vented containers with the host plant in water picks; under these conditions older larvae tended to rest near the base of the vine.
The younger caterpillars fed on tender leaves and possibly inflorescences, while older ones fed on mature leaves. The more mature larvae had a number of interesting features, most easily seen on the photo of the fourth instar. The scoli (branched spines along the body) were uniform except on the second segment (T2), where they were unbranched and much reduced. The bulbous ends secreted a sticky fluid that would gather frass or other debris. The head appeared to be covered with "bangs": thick setae curved over the face, the inner half white and the outer half black. The legs also had white setae; these were similar in color and size to the hairs on the edges of the Noseburn leaves.
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Another curious feature of these caterpillars is that the scoli were white at the beginning of an instar, but gradually darkened to gold and occasionally brown as the stage progressed. The same caterpillar is featured in both of the fifth instar photos to show this change.
The first adult, a female, emerged on January 14. The following weekend, under good weather conditions, I was able to return it and 2 males to Kristy to release in her yard. The rest of the story remains to be written.