If I don't hurry, this won't be a July issue; it will be an August issue!

Welcome to the July issue of Butterflies!

The 1,000th subscriber to Butterflies! AND the person who referred the newsletter to the 1,000th subscriber will each receive a special package from the farm.

These gift packages include - in each one;

• $50 Gift Card to Shady Oak Butterfly Farm
• Flying Flowers; hardback coffee table butterfly book by Rick Sammon
• 25 butterfly postcards
• 5 butterfly and host/nectar plant notecards
• Butterfly stickers
• Zippered popup rearing container
• And More!

The newsletter has over 900 subscribers at this time. Please take the time to invite your friends and acquaintances to join us. You may receive the prize along with your friend.

We're in the midst of a bit of study about chalcid wasps; a major butterfly and moth parasitoid.

In the next issue we share how you can tell if your butterfly chrysalis is filled with a butterfly or chalcid wasps. (Pronounced KAL-sid) But for those of us who would like info right now, look for these signs;

• Darking between segments of the abdomen
• Slump in the abdomen
• It doesn't emerge as early as expected
• Dark spots on the chrysalis (hard to see and other things can cause spots)

If your chrysalis is infected with chalcid wasps, the best thing to do is DESTROY it! As the photo above shows, there isn't a butterfly inside the chrysalis shell to save. It has been long gone. Six days before this chrysalis was cut open, it was a fresh chrysalis with chalcid wasps laying eggs in it.

Next issue; chalcid wasps;

• How to tell if your chrysalis is infected
• How to protect your caterpillars and chrysalises
• What to do if you suspect chalcid wasps
• Photographs of the chrysalis from the outside as chalcids develop inside
• And more about chalcid wasps

If you would like to share this with a friend, either forward this newsletter, tell them about Butterflies!, or send them the link below.

Two new additions are on the similarities page;

• Palamedes and Spicebush early instar caterpillars
• Eastern Black and Palamedes Swallowtail adults
• Red-Spotted Purple and Viceroy caterpillars

Orange and black and beautiful! That's the description for both the caterpillar and the adult form of this butterfly.

Chrysalises are green with black 'decorations', turning orange and yellow the day before the adult emerges.

These caterpillars were found on the east side of Lake Okeechobee, eating Strangler Fig.

Special thanks to Carolyn Walsh for sharing photos of a Ruddy Daggerwing in her yard!

Imperial moth adults are impressive! Adults are yellow and brown/burgundy. Caterpillars hatch and grow larger, spikes and all. Young caterpillars are brown/burgundy, turning green in their later instars. They can't hurt you but their appearance sure causes a few people to hesitate before touching one.

The word 'cocoon' is often used for the third stage of a butterfly or moth's life. Actually, a cocoon is never alive or a butterfly or moth in any form! Many, if not most, children (and adult) books refer to this as a 'Monarch cocoon'.

So if it isn't a cocoon, what IS a cocoon?

A cocoon is a 'sleeping bag' for some species of moths as their third stage of metamorphosis. Egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (a butterfly pupa is also called a chrysalis), and imago (adult.)

Of what is it made? Silk from spinnerets on the bottom 'lip' of a caterpillar is used. Sometimes bits of leaves, whole leaves, bits of twigs, or other items are sewn together with silk to make the cocoon.

Captions suggested are;

1. Nymph says, "Hey! What did I miss?"

2. Bill: Geeez!!!! Hillary, do you see what you're putting on?
Hillary: Well, this is the last time I dress in the dark no matter how many times you tell me you need your beauty sleep. I thought I was reaching for my yellow pants suit, and her I am putting on this silly halloween costume.
Bill: Don't worry dear. I'm going back to sleep. And, when I wake up, I'm sure this will all have been a bad dream.

3. "Aw, Mom! Do I HAVE to thank Aunt Myrtle for the trousers? She ALWAYS buys them too big!"

4. "Emergence"

5. "Captain Long Beard"

Email edith@buyabutterfly.com to send in your vote.

Until next time, Edith, Stephen, Ester, Michelle, and the gang