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Sightings by local Master Naturalists |
CAMN Rare Sighting
On yet another fall day when the temperature broke another high Kim Bacon, Jill Carpenter, Kyle Girten, Keith Mars, Christine Powell, and Erica Wilson all 2007 graduates of CAMN were volunteering at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Suddenly Flo Oxley, Program Coordinator, rushed in to tell the seed cleaners of a rare sighting and a marvelous learning oppurtunity. Everyone rushed out to the nursery to view a lone Malachite butterfly as it fluttered and danced in the breeze on the balmy fall morning. Eventually, it landed on the rotten and decaying fruit of a Texas Persimmon (Diospyros texana) where it joined other like minded insects getting one last sweet meal before the onset of winter.
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 The Butterfly is Siproeta stelenes (Malachite) according to the Butterflies and Moths of North America site. It has not been recorded in Travis County before so all who gathered around were, not just enchanted, but exhilarated at such a wonderful sighting. Usually found from Brazil north through Central America, Mexico, and the West Indies to southern Florida and South Texas with a rare stray into Kansas. The southern Florida populations have become established since the 1960s; presumably having emigrated from Cuba.
Males perch on shrubs in forest or orchard openings and sometimes patrol for females with a slow, floating flight. Adults roost together under the leaves of low shrubs and enjoy rotting fruit and will occasionally feed on bird droppings and nectar from the flowers of lianas, trees, and sometimes herbaceous plants. Malachites sometimes feed all day long and may fly to flowers forty feet high in the canopy. Eggs are laid singly on host plant leaves, which caterpillars eat and rest beneath. There are usually two to three broods during the summer; one brood of the winter form hibernates. Hosts plants include Cafetin (Blechum brownei) and ruellia (Ruellia coccinea) in the family Acanthaceae. Other MNs may wish to consider these plant species in order to promote the survival of this beautiful butterfly, now that it has expanded into our area.
Photos courtesy of Christine Powell
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