Butterflies on Fuerteventura

[Tardis]

We had one in our garden about two years ago.

[Gone Fishing]

Anyone know which butterfly or moth this is from? It's about 6 inches long.



Have only spotted the one in the garden.

Hi Tamara

There's usually no mistaking caterpillars of the various sphinx (aka hawkmoth) species due to their size.

I'm tempted to suggest Elephant hawkmoth due to its coloration and black spots on the underside
It almost looks like that one in the first photo has stretched itself out to disguise itself as a twig.

I imagine that Shrek would find it appetising, so perhaps it's a cunning concealment worth adopting.

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Found 3 more of these today, this time on the pomegranate!

  

Unfortunately the Monarchs have been suffering in the calima. My Beach Almond tree has been completely denuded of leaves taking with it many chrysalids and many milkweed plants have also been stripped by the wind. The result has been dead caterpillars all over the grava. Shrek has been clearing up .....
Some of the chrysalids have carried on developing but the emerging butterflies have really struggled and most have not made it

  

[Tardis]

Found 3 more of these today, this time on the pomegranate!

  

Unfortunately the Monarchs have been suffering in the calima. My Beach Almond tree has been completely denuded of leaves taking with it many chrysalids and many milkweed plants have also been stripped by the wind. The result has been dead caterpillars all over the grava. Shrek has been clearing up .....
Some of the chrysalids have carried on developing but the emerging butterflies have really struggled and most have not made it

  

We've used this method with kitchen towel and mosquito screen material in a bucket to save a chrysalid:
https://youtu.be/kxCzr89Ck3E?t=302

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Well, I've got a good number of Monarch caterpillars again, and still they are hatching from the last round. Luckily the milkweeds grew well over the winter. I have been quite brutal with culling the eggs this year, hoping that the ones I leave will have sufficient food and not completely denude the plants. The Oleander bug is doing enough damage to the milkweed anyway and I can't intervene without harming the caterpillars!

 

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Found some great Death's Head Hawkmoth caterpillars today on a datura plant. Biggest one is about 6 inches long and thicker than my thumb!

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Noticias:

La Vanesa de los Cardos returns to Fuerteventura.

Traditionally in October this incredible lepidoptera returns to the island after a no less incredible migration of several generations.

In recent days we have seen throughout the island how the population of a beautiful orange butterfly has multiplied. This is the Vanessa de los Cardos, an incredible lepidoptera that every year at this time, and depending on the Weather conditions, visits the island of Fuerteventura in an important number. On this occasion the easterly winds of the last week have favored the jump from the continent of a significant number of individuals.

 

The Vanesa de Los Cardos, is a butterfly that inhabits much of the planet, except South America. It is easily identified by being medium-sized and having a wide palette of colors on its wings, from black to white, through beige, orange, reddish and various shades of brown.

 

It is easy to confuse with the Monarch Butterfly, as both share a characteristic orange hue. In addition, both butterflies migrate thousands of kilometers, as recent research has shown.

 

In winter they return to Africa

 

Recent research on the steps of this apparently weak insect shows that the vanessas of the thistles that are normally observed in gardens in Europe in spring and summer can reach the African tropical savannah, that is, they make a journey of 4,000 kilometers. It is on this trip, when in conditions of little wind, or easterly winds end up in the Canary Islands many of the specimens.

 

Always in continuous motion

 

The journey of this species begins in early spring and culminates in autumn. The outward journey takes place in two stages. In the first they colonize large regions of the Mediterranean basin, and in the second, of a summer nature, the offspring of this first wave expands through the lands of central and northern Europe, where it remains while the good Weather conditions last.

 

At the end of summer and during the autumn, new generations begin the way back to Africa, to the fertile lands of the Sahel, which after the rainy season become ideal places for the reproduction of the species. Finally, later in the winter, they will concentrate mainly in the Canary Islands and south of the Maghreb before starting a new migratory cycle. In order to complete the cycle, six generations of butterflies are necessary.

 

Incredible feat

 

The explanation of the enormous feat of these apparently fragile beings, with barely a gram of weight, although of powerful flight, has not been known until very recently when various groups of researchers with the help of sophisticated radars and thousands of volunteers from all over Europe have deciphered the enigma of the return to the south of these butterflies.

 

Journey in the heights

 

On their long journey they minimize the effort 'riding' through the heights (at about 200 or 500 m of altitude, sometimes even above 1,000 m), on the back of atmospheric air currents, which allow them to reach 40-50 km / h. In total they can travel up to 14,000 kilometers, double what the famous monarch butterflies travel between Canada, the US and Mexico.

 

This trip 'hidden' in the heights, has made that until now the cycle was not fully known and it was an unknown what happened to these butterflies at the end of summer.

 

These findings dismantle the theory known as the 'flutist's hypothesis', based on the fact that only the outward journey of these butterflies was known and that indicated that the vanessas of the thistles migrated every year to the north in the hope of finding 'the promised land' and suddenly, before the arrival of the winter winds, Died.

 

In October in the Canary Islands

 

It is usually seen flying throughout the year among the thistles in fields, orchards and gardens throughout the archipelago, from the coast to the areas of brooms and codesos of the summits. During the month of October and November the chances of observing it in our field trips through the natural spaces of the Canary Islands increase, mainly in the coastal and medium-sized areas.

 
At this time the local population of a sedentary nature is joined by arrivals from the African continent, arrivals that have sometimes been especially numerous and striking, which have even been reflected in the local press as surprising facts of our rich biodiversity.

link to article for pic

certainly seen hundreds of them in Tindaya! They breed much like the Monarchs, preferably on Milkweed and the caterpillars are the same yellow and black stripe but a bit smaller.

[DavidP]

Hundreds around Cotillo.
Do they have an "anglo saxon" name,
or spanish "nick name"

[Tardis]

Hundreds around Cotillo.
Do they have an "anglo saxon" name,
or spanish "nick name"

Painted Ladies

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Not hundreds, now thousands! 😍