Orange Tip breeding

[Jack Harrison]

thepostieles:

will there be another brood of adults later in year or will the pupae stay till nxt year?

Most unlikely to emerge in the wild this year. But I intend to experiment with an "artificial winter" by cooling in the fridge some of this year’s pupae about a month after they have formed. Then in late summer (eg mid-September) I'll bring out into the natural warmth and see what happens. I doubt that any will emerge but you never know.

Jack

[Dave McCormick]

I have seen OTs in July or August here, not sure which, so I think think after mine pupae, they might hatch this year. Just got to wait and see

[Padfield]

A few orange tips continue flying into July, especially at altitude. I have seen them in the Chilterns in July and quite regularly in the Alps and Pyrenees (which is not quite the same thing, of course). These are still first brood individuals. It is often males that hang around like this - my theory being that although they emerge earlier they don't expend nearly as much energy on tedious domestic chores like egg-carrying and laying. The books refer to a second brood in favourable years but I've never witnessed this. Obviously, 'favourable years' does not mean years with an artificial winter in the middle of the summer (!) so Jack's experiment really concerns a massively early first brood 2010, not a second brood 2009.

Guy

[Jack Harrison]

Obviously, 'favourable years' does not mean years with an artificial winter in the middle of the summer (!)

You've lived abroad too long Guy and have forgotten. We almost ALWAYS have a spell of "winter" at some point during the so-called summer months.

Jack

[Padfield]

You've lived abroad too long Guy and have forgotten. We almost ALWAYS have a spell of "winter" at some point during the so-called summer months.

Touché. But We do too, sometimes. This was 31st May 2006:



That confused a lot of butterflies, orange tips included, I suspect.

Guy

[Jack Harrison]

The last of my Orange Tips have emerged, three females, and were released into a sunny garden. Two flew over the hedge but one lady hung around. She was well trained and immediately homed in onto the Bowles Mauve.

She remained in the garden as I go on with some jobs.

Then, delight of delights, she had found a mate.

Jack

[Padfield]

That's fast moving!! Good work, Jack, and lovely pictures too.

Guy

[Dave McCormick]

Here is my caterpillar now:

[Dave McCormick]

Thought this might be interesting to show you all, the sweet substance that orange-tip caterpillars excrete onto the hairs of their skin which ants are attracted by:

[Susie]

Great pics.

Can someone give me more information about the relationship between caterpillars and ants please?

[Denise]

I thought that I had lost Oates, (Orange Tip Egg that Susie gave me)
No-one read him the "what to do" book. He doesn't sleep on the pods, but under the leaves.
Anyway, he's not doing quite as well as Dave's, but he is outside in the garden and it's been cool and wet a lot since he hatched.
1st Instar.

Denise

[Jack Harrison]

Denise:

I thought that I had lost Oates

Very formal. I called him Matthew when I met him for the first time last summer.

Not surprised your Matthew is eccentric - a bit like his namesake.

Jack

[Denise]

I'd be chuffed to have a butterfly named after me.
By the way, one of the GVW is called Jack!
Denise

[Jack Harrison]

Denise:

By the way, one of the GVW is called Jack!

Huh. (Sulk). A Duke of Burgundy might have been acceptable: "Jack, the honourable the Duke of Burgundy" but I really feel I deserve a Red Admiral at the very least; or better still, a Purple Emperor named after such an eminent personage.

Jack

[Denise]

Aww, come on Jack. Caterpillar watching is new to me, with GVW being only the second species.
If I am lucky enough to find a new species breeding in my garden, I will name the first one Harrison.
It won't be a Duke but I'm secretly hoping for a Painted Lady to grace my thistles, or something else to honour my nice new nettle patch.

Denise

[Susie]

I'll call two of my brown hairstreaks Denise and Jack. Will that do?

Grand to see how Oates is doing, Denise.

[Denise]

That will be smashing Susie
I hope to see some on August 2nd

Oates has got the idea now and munching like a good 'un.

Denise

[Jack Harrison]

Susie:

I’ll call two of my brown hairstreaks Denise and Jack. Will that do?

I suppose I'll have to accept that. But I still hanker after: "His Imperial Majesty, Jack the Purple Emperor". Has a certain "ring" about it.

Jack

[Dave McCormick]

Denise, nice to see Oates is alive and well. I checked a patch of grassy wet area that had orange-tips last year, but part of it was dug away. The cuckoo flowers are back, there is a marshy wet area with frogs now and there are lots of OT eggs around, so it safe to say the area is back how it used to be, with extra water.

My caterpillar, now called "Jess" after someone special to me (decided to name it after some of you have named yours), can be name for either a boy or girl, so its fine. I'll post a pic soon, nearly ate all of the cuckooflower its on, so I'll need another one to feed it. I can now see why they can't survive if more than one are on same plant.

[Jack Harrison]

Now I stand corrected, but as I understand it, the heads of caterpillars do not grow between moults. The body swells but the head remains the same size until the next moult.

Here are two caterpillars at different stages. The one on the left is probably about to moult as its head looks very tiny compared to its body. The one on the right is at a later stage (instar) and has a “normal” size head, but as yet, the body is still very slim. I think it has one more moult to go and then will be in its final instar.

Jack