Looking Back-Butterflies and Moths

Skipper at Madera Canyon

At the Tucson Botanical Gardens, we begin our Butterfly Magic.  It's a sign that fall has begun here.  But let's not be so quick to say goodbye to our butterflies out in the wild.  Mother Nature's show has been an exciting one this year.  Here's a look back at some of the butterflies and moths I was able to get over this past summer. 

Spring Azure Butterfly in Madera Canyon

Queen Butterfly mating at Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson, AZ

Painted Lady in the Sonoran Desert at Wassom Peak

Mourning Cloak at Patagonia Lake, AZ

Marine Blue taken at my window here at El Presidio

Pipevine Swallowtail-Ramsey Canyon

Black Swallowtail-the pyramid of the Moon of Teotihuacan in Mexico City(wasn't this summer but it was still a cool shot)

Comma Butterfly, Governor Dodge State Park in Dodgeville, WI

Giant Swallowtail(above and below) in Tucson at our El Presidio Gardens

Arizona Sister-Ramsey Canyon

Common Buckeye, Governor Dodge State Park, Dodgeville WI

American Snout Butterfly-Woodland Dunes Wetlands, Two Rivers, WI

Question Mark Butterfly-Green Bay WI

Tiger Swallowtail Two Rivers, WI on the Lake Michigan Beach

Queen Butterfly in Miller Canyon

Black Witch Moth-Biosphere 2 in Oracle

Gulf Fritillary Tucson Botanical Gardens around their pots

Checkered White Butterfly-Santa Cruz Wash, Tucson

Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly-Ash Canyon

Variegated Fritillary-Patagonia/Arivaca Trail

Zela Metalmark-Ramsey Canyon

Checkerspot-Miller Canyon

Tiger Moth-Montosa Canyon

Sara's Orange Tip-Redington Pass

Funeral Dusky Butterfly-Miller Canyon

Dicogaster Coronada

Spring Azure Butterfly-Ramsey Canyon

Apatelodes pudefacta

Mexican Fritillary-Arivaca-Patagonia Trail

Two Tail Swallowtail-Montosa Canyon



The Tucson Botanical Gardens opens up their Tropical Butterfly Display today! On October 8th, I'll be working in the greenhouse during the afternoon from noon until 3:30. Maybe I'll see you there?  But if you can't make it, take a look around you.  How many butterflies and moths do you see fluttering about?

Alien Bugs

Black Witch Moth(This one is for you Ragged Robin:)

Here's a collection of interesting bugs I've found around Southern Arizona. The above was a great find.  This moth is found mostly in Mexico but it does make it's way up into Southern Arizona and what a find!!!  The name alone is fun:) It is considered a harbinger of death in Mexican and Caribbean folklore.  Glad I didn't touch it:)

And while the monsoon brings on the rain, you'll see many many beetles flying around our parts.  Some I like.  Some I don't.

Blue Mud Dauber Wasp

But this Blue Mud Dauber is something.  Here's why you don't squash this one.  The blue mud dauber is a metallic blue species of mud dauber wasp that preys primarily on black widow spiders. It does not build a nest, but uses nests abandoned by other mud dauber wasps. Like other mud daubers, it is rarely aggressive. Blue mud dauber wasps are generally considered beneficial, because they help to regulate the population of black widow spiders.

Giant Mesquite Bug

When I first met this bug, I thought, "Is that real?"  And yes.  Yes it is. They are harmless and don't bite.  And you can hold them in your hand.

Palo Verde Beetle

And this one.  This is the grand daddy of them all.  I'll tell you a short story for this GIANT bug.  This one looks like a cockroach, but it's not.  Here's one for the books.  I first discovered this alien bug while moving here in '96.  It was during monsoon and the thing flew into our apartment window.  I had thought it was a bird at first.  I opened the door and it got into our place.  I began to scream because I had never seen a beetle that big.  I would NOT put this guy in your hand at all.  They don't bite, but they do click and could pinch your skin.  But that's not my story:)  One of my friends came to visit from the Midwest during the summer.  They drove with their windows down probably listening to the Macarena.  It was evening time when these bugs like to come out and of course one flew into my friend's car.  Let's just say that a car crash almost happened from all the screaming and swirving on the road from this Giant Bug.  It was on Speedway and the monsoon storms were getting started:)  Thankfully no one was hurt and a hilarious memory still surfaces today in conversations:)  "Do you remember that time when that alien bug entered your car?" Evil laughs follow. And you should have heard her describe this beast.  It was the funniest thing ever. If you have friends in Arizona, ask them about the Palo Verde beetle and see what their reactions are:)  I've come across so many people with great stories of their first encounter because it's rather traumatic:) 

Figeater Beetle

Horse Lubber Grasshopper

This actor played Johnny Rico from the movie Starship Troopers which was a violent movie about humans fighting alien bugs. One of his lines was, "I'm from Buenos Aires, and I say kill 'em all!" His very American accent wasn't quite convincing to play someone from Argentina so I'm not sure his words should be taken seriously:) Everything has a purpose. More tomorrow.....

Cicada-when they emerge from their exoskeleton, you'd swear there was an alien in the garden somewhere

 Carpenter Bees(above).  They seem scary, but they're not:)