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Pescador
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Okay Butterfly experts
I am fascinated by what happened this year with the hatching of millions of small yellow or white butterflies this year in BCS. We had a lot of rain
so obviously the hatch is related to rain and water. If I remember correctly butterflies lay eggs which hatch into caterpillars, who weave a cocoon,
which turns into a butterfly when the conditions are right.
On dry years we see few if any butterflies, but when we get a tropical storm or just a fair amount of rain, we usually see butterflies about two
weeks later. The dragon flies come out the same way but about a week earlier. Does this mean that the cocoons lay there dormant for years until
the conditions are right for a hatch?
This year we have more caterpillars than I have ever seen before and with all of the green plants along the side of the road, the highway from Mulege
to Vizcaino was covered with caterpillars. A lot of those will not be spinning cocoons.
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Mula
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The locals - between Mulege and Loreto - say when millions of yellow butterflies swarm in the arroyos, etc, the last of the rain for the year has
come.
We don't have this phenomena in Lopez Mateoz, Insurgentes or Constitucion so far yet this year, so still more rain to come.
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Osprey
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Fishinjim, I've wondered the same thing. I have a theory. Down here I'm a local and I think the yellow ones are meat eater and after a big rain they
come out of the caves in search of the bodies of flash flood victims. Worse than the buzzards.
My cave thinking comes from the fact that I have yet to encounter a cocoon.
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BajaBlanca
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how about the huge brown moths this year ? have you seen them ? it is the first time that I see themso huge here in la bocana.
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Osprey
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Blanca, if you're lucky you might even see an occasional Rothchildia moth -- huge, with transparent windows in the wings. A strange and wonderful
creature.
[Edited on 9-16-2012 by Osprey]
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vandenberg
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Mood: mellow
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaBlanca
how about the huge brown moths this year ? have you seen them ? it is the first time that I see themso huge here in la bocana.
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Always lots of those around Nopolo this time of year.
And over the years I've seen the yellow ones so thick between Vizcaino and Loreto, that I had to clean my trucks radiator every 25 miles to keep it
from overheating.
[Edited on 9-16-2012 by vandenberg]
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bajajudy
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I believe that the yellow ones are the infamous "Love Bugs" of Florida. They have stations along the road so you can stop and clean your radiator so
you dont over heat. We have thousands of them this morning and Monarchs too
Quite a sight.
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Paulina
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaBlanca
how about the huge brown moths this year ? have you seen them ? it is the first time that I see themso huge here in la bocana.
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We had one that joined us for dinner, two nights in a row. It really liked the taste of Dern's Italian salad dressing.
P>*)))>{
\"Well behaved women rarely make history.\" Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
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Marla Daily
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The large dark moth in the photos is a Black Witch (Ascalapha odorata) known as Mariposa de la muerte in Mexico. The come from as far south as Brazil
and are often mistaken for a bat. They eat over ripe fruit — looking for a meal on the plate. They are beautiful wonders of nature.
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bajajudy
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Marla Daily
The large dark moth in the photos is a Black Witch (Ascalapha odorata) known as Mariposa de la muerte in Mexico. The come from as far south as Brazil
and are often mistaken for a bat. They eat over ripe fruit — looking for a meal on the plate. They are beautiful wonders of nature.
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They also like wine
Hey a little wine with my salad sounds good to me.
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elizabeth
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Is there someone who can actually answer the question? What is it about rain that causes the profusion of these butterflies? It's calmed down some,
but Loreto was teeming with them. My grandson thinks I know everything, and now clearly he knows I don't, he wants to know why rain equals
butterflies!!!!
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Skipjack Joe
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Rain equals plant growth and plant growth equals butterflies.
It's mostly about food. Caterpillars feed primarily on young soft leaves. The plant life most of the year is unsuitable for eating.
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Pescador
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Yeah, but I still do not have the answer. The butterflies come from a cocoon, which is spun by the caterpillar. The caterpillar comes from an egg.
We get butterflies about 2 weeks after the rains. On dry years they do not show at all. So they have to be in a dormant stage as a cocoon and them
come out when it rains. They quickly lay eggs which lead to caterpillars, which eat leaves and green stuff. We saw millions of these caterpillars
on the road last week.
Also, we get a large hatch of dragon flies, which also must spend time in the desert in a dormant stage until the rains come. They come out in
about a week, which is about a week before the butterflies.
The only thing that seems to make sense is the butterflies are in the cocoon stage for as long as 4 or 5 years, If dry, and come out right after
the rains start. Some years we have no rain and I have not seen a butterfly at all.
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maspacifico
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They must be dormant til the rain. I remember years that the rains were spaced out and they got even thicker with each hatch. We are getting the big
yellow ones right now. Fun to watch.
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Skipjack Joe
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Here is a bit more info that is helpful.
1. The dormancy period of a butterfly is called diapause.
2. Butterflies can go through diapause in either the cocoon or the egg stage.
3. Many species of butterflies go through multi-year diapauses. Meaning the dormant phase can last several years.
If somebody knew the species of these yellow butterflies we could probably look up their life cycles.
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My first and favorite memory of these butterflies was during the el nino year of 1983. Driving to San Francisquito from El Arco the van would dip into
a moist arroyo and a thousand butterflies would burst from the ground in front of us. We loved it!
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Pescador
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They are called Cloudy Sulphur and I think the solution is diapause as Igor suggests. This is an amazing example of how Mother Nature sets up a
species to survive in a very hostile environment. They must be able to go through a drought and wait until the rain comes. Here is what I have
observed.
It rains, either with a hurricane, tropical storm, or just a downpour. Within two weeks, the butterflies come out in great numbers. They then mate
and lay eggs on the emerging green plants. Within about 10 days, the eggs hatch into caterpillars and they eat everything green they can. When they
reach maturity, they spin a cocoon and go into diapause. On years where we have more another rainstorm later, they mature into butterflies and come
out again, but on a normal year, they stay at that stage until the rain hits again. They do not come out on the first day of rain because the plants
have not had a chance to grow, but the butterflies lag behind the rain with enough time that the green plants start to grow.
Now what I need to do is to start checking where the pupa stage or cocoons are stored and in what plants or trees.
A guy has to do something to keep his mind active when the fish are not biting.
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elizabeth
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Thanks Skipjack Joe and Pescador...now I can tell my grandson I indeed can find out anything even if I don't know it right away!
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tehag
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Butterflies
Common yellow butterflies in BCS include: Southern dogface, Statira, Cloudless sulphur, Orange sulphur, Mimosa yellow, Little yellow, and Sleepy
orange. The Statira is usually the major player in the giant yellow rainy-season swarms. The Southern dogface population also explodes after rains.
All the desert species seem to blossom after a good rain, when all the world's a salad bar. For a quick ID reference click the link below and then
click Others - Thumbnails.
As far as the original question goes, I think Skipjack's answer will do nicely.
Certainty is the child of ignorance, knowledge is the mother of doubt. Question everything!
http://bcsbirds.com |
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ecomujeres
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Another point to consider: from what I've been reading about the Sulphur butterflies, they are migratory. This means that they may actually be
following food sources that are appearing after the rains and so aren't neccesarily leaving their chrysali en mass, but are arriving from elsewhere
and congregating on preferred food sources, along with local hatchlings.
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LarryK
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[We were fishing out of La Ventana/Muertos and there were thousands of the small yellow ones flying across the ocean from what appeared the mainland
(not Cerralvo). When we returned to camp they were not there. I think they went to the mountains.
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