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According to range
maps, the Brazilian skipper is mainly a costal butterfly and in Louisiana
is seen mostly in the southern part of the state. However, I have
had no trouble finding it in northwest Louisiana. One method of
attracting butterflies to your garden is to plant a butterfly hostplants
in your yard. The canna plant is the hostplant for this
species. Because canna has a tendency to spread in a garden, I
planted my specimen in a large pot on my patio. It is a fast growing plant
and didn't take long to completely fill the pot. Also, it didn't take long
for the skippers to find this plant. At first I didn't know what to
look for. I noticed some leaves had been chewed, but it took me a
while to realize that this was done by the Brazilian skipper
caterpillar. |
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| The
caterpillar forages at night and stays in a folded leaf by day. The two
photos above shows how the caterpillar folds the leaf. The
caterpillar is found inside the fold during the day. Look for these
characteristic folds to find the caterpillar. If they are still
using that particular fold, they will be inside it during the day.
As they grow, the fold that they create is larger to accommodate their
larger size. |
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The skipper lays its
eggs on the canna leaves. The eggs are white and easy to find. There
are three eggs on the canna leaf at the left. A close-up photo of an
egg is shown below. |
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| The photo above is an early instar
of the Brazilian skipper catperpillar. This caterpillar is about 3/8
inches long. |
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| This is a late instar
caterpillar. Notice the black triangle on the head. This
caterpillar is about 2.5 inches. |
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| A Brazilian skipper chrysalis on a
canna plant. Unlike many butterfly caterpillars, this species makes
its chrysalis on the hostplant.. |
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| The Brazilian skipper chrysalis is
formed under a folded leaf as pointed out in the photo above. This is not
the same as the folded leaf the caterpillar hides in during the
day. The chrysalis is held in place by threads that the
caterpillar produces for that purpose. |
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| The skipper finally emerges from the
chrysalis into a perfect butterfly. |