Gulf Fritillary Butterfly Caterpillars on Passion Flower Vines

When I got back into town last weekend I noticed a whole mess of caterpillars on my Passion Flower vines. I had forgotten that it is a "host plant" for butterflies, which means some butterflies use it for laying eggs and starting the whole circle of life on the one plant.

After some quick research, I found that they were Gulf Fritillary butterfly caterpillars.  There must be 150 or so of them all over the vines from the tiniest little furry the size of a grain of rice all the way to full-grown ones the length of matchsticks.  

I've found one chrysalis so far but expect a whole lot more very soon with so many being pretty large.

So the kids could enjoy it (and me too) I placed the section of vine with the chrysalis in a large mason jar and made a screen top for it.  I hope there's a great show in the near future of this beautiful butterfly to be.

One of the many beautiful things about the Gulf Fritillary is that the bright spots on the outer wing sides is actually more silver so it really reflects direct light.

So get out in your yard and look close at the bushes, plants, and vines.  The eggs usually look like small little balls attached along the vines or under leaves.  And the tiniest little spot could be a new caterpillar!