Starr County Butterflies
Female that deposited eggs, 7-19-10
Eggs on third day, 7-22-10
Fresh caterpillars, 7-24-10
7-27-10
7-29-10
7-31-10
Mature caterpillar, 8-4-10
"Green" form of caterpillar, 9-4-09
Chrysalis, 8-8-10 (formed ca. 8-6-10)
Fresh adult Pale-banded Crescent, dorsal, 8-11-10
Fresh adult Pale-banded Crescent, ventral, 8-11-10
Pale-banded Crescents have generally been rare visitors to the yard; the exception is fall of 2008, when they were abundant for several months. They colonized our Shrimp Plants (Justicia brandegeana); there were multiple broods and I found numerous groups of small caterpillars, but never any eggs. The adults disappeared with the onset of winter and they have yet to reappear in numbers.
The only Pale-banded Crescent to visit the yard in 2010 arrived in July. Fortunately, she was a gravid female that obviously admired the Dicliptera, Dicliptera vahliana, in the flower bed. She left a raft of eggs which I was able to locate - proving once again that abundance is no guarantee of success when it comes to locating butterfly eggs.
The base color was tan on the dorsal stripe of the mature caterpillars of this 2010 brood . Many of the caterpillars I raised previously (see 2009 picture) had a green dorsal stripe.
The eggs eclosed 5 days after they were deposited. As usual, I released many as they developed; those I kept pupated from August 5 to 7. The adults emerged on August 11 and 12. The entire cycle took just over three weeks.
Pale-banded Crescent
caterpillar faces
A comparison of several Crescent caterpillars may be seen here.