Cloudless Sulphurs are big compared to other Sulphurs. They have a wingspan of about 2 1/2- 2 3/4 inches. This butterfly has a wide range, from South America to Southern Canada.
The Sulphurs’ major food plant is Cassia. Near the beginning of spring I saved up my money and was very excited to purchase one.
After waiting a month I finally spotted some eggs on my Cassia, but I missed getting to watch the Cloudless Sulphur lay the tiny eggs. Finally this summer I captured a photo of the Sulphur butterfly laying eggs!
Can you find the tiny white egg on this leaf? It looks like a grain of rice. It takes about six days for the caterpillar inside to fully develop.
All my Cloudless Sulphur caterpillars get eaten by wasps before reaching pupation size so I decided to rescue one from my garden.
I also am raising Sleepy Orange caterpillars which are smaller than Cloudless Sulpurs, but are in the Sulphur group of butterflies. I got the Sleepy Orange caterpillars at my visit to Shady Oaks Butterfly farm.
Hi there!
ReplyDeleteCame across your blog as I was researching the Cloudless Sulphur cats. My neighbor and I are butterfly gardening in our yards and just today discovered that her little "volunteer" senna plant is absolutely covered with CS eggs and early instar cats. We are worried that the plant may be too small to support all of the cats. Wondering if you'd be willing to e-mail for an exchange of info. Thanks!!~~Angie