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| The egg of the voracious culprit |
The tell-tale sign of the Banana Skipper (Erionata thrax, Family: Hesperiidae) appeared on my biggest banana plant last week. One leaf became a home for the caterpillars, who chewed up the edges of the leaf and curled themselves up inside their newly made home. I immediately began to squish the little guys. Then I realized I should have taken some pictures. Luckily, I found some unhatched eggs (above photo). The caterpillars are tiny and slender. A green body and dark-colored head. Plan to search for the adult form soon. I brought the banana back into the garage, but just today found newly hatched caterpillars curled up in the lower regions of one of the leafs. I should have thought to inspect the stems, not just the leaves, because that's where I found the eggs.
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| Damage to my banana plant |
Impromptu trip to Andy South area on Friday. Was hoping for nice, big puddles I'd scoped out in early Fall. Unfortunately the dry season seems to have arrived, so only found smaller puddles and one big muddy area. Lots of Orthetrum sabina sabina and baby toads. Managed to catch a sabina. Was a bit less vibrantly colored than the one I caught the week before. Also caught a Monarch butterfly. Butterflies are so easy to catch instead of dragonflies. The only other dragonfly present around the road puddles was a orange-colored, almost iridescent, fast-flying dragonfly. It was a sight to see two of them were in tandem. However, was unsuccessful in catching them. To try to capture them makes one feel as if one is in slow-motion. You will see it easily dodge the swoop of a net one or two moments before you even register its change in position. Cannot even be sure what species it is. I'm going to guess it is Tholymis tillarga, but I really can't be sure without catching it. I am determined to catch one now.
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| Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) |
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Another green marsh hawk (Orthetrum sabina sabina)
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