Vanessa cardui

Plettenberg Bay: October 2006

The Painted Lady. Despite its almost cosmopolitan occurrence, it is not all that common in Pietermaritzburg. On  this visit to Plettenberg Bay we witnessed a large migration: as a Parks board official mentioned: "all the way he had travelled from Uniondale." Mandy also commented that on her way up to us from Cape Town that she had driven through it: lots of road kill!


One was ovipositing on a Cape dandelion (Arctotheca calendula) one of its many food plants: I was lucky enough to find the egg.









See also Vanessa cardui (2)

Pontia Helice

Plettenberg Bay; October 2006

Despite its wide distribution, the Meadow White is uncommon in the Pietermaritzburg area: I have only two records from here, one in the garden and the other at Bisley. We came across it frequently on our visit to Plettenburg Bay, one even settled on Merle's shirt while we were walking.
The top a female from Groot River walk, deVasselot, Tsitsikamma National park, Nature's Valley. The second a male from the bottom of Witsand, Robberg, and the bottom (underside) from the scrub along Blue Rocks, again Nature's Valley.
 

Lachnocnema sp.

So aptly named: unmistakably the Woolly Legs, probably the Common. I came across this tiny butterfly at Bisley, clutching onto a grass stalk. It is my only record, possibly I have missed many on account of their samll size. I was lucky enough to catch the lighting on the silvery scales. Interestingly the larvae are carnivorous,  feeding on plant lice. I'm not sure why Fabricius (1793) gave it the specific name "bibulus" (the drinker); did he know that the adults do feed on the honeydew of the plant lice?

Danaus chrysippus

A delightful female African Monarch at Bisley.

Hypolimnas misippus (male)

I found this male Common Diadem in the NBG. Close by were the females ovipositing on purselane. So different are the males from the females that one could be forgiven for mistaking them for another species.The give away for this species is the blue sheen that can be seen in certain lighting in both sexes.
See also Hyoplimnas misippus : females.

Antanartia schaenia

The Long-tailed Admiral

An elusive butterfly that I found occasionally on nettles (its food plant) between our garden and the NBG. I think that there was also a Laportia sp (another of its food plants) in the NBG.

Papilio ophidicephalus

While walking in the NBG, we disturbed this Emperor Swallowtail that was settling for the night. I followed him up and down the forest gully until he settled again. He allowed me a single insurance shot, before leaving. A prize for me; this butterfly has always seemed to have eluded me.