Same wildflower, similarly colored visitor, different type of insect
Click for considerably larger size and greater clarity.
We’re still looking at Asclepias asperula, or antelope-horns milkweed. The colors visible on this visitor are similar to those of Oncopeltus fasciatus, the large milkweed bug that you’ve seen in the last two posts, but now we have a red admiral, Vanessa atalanta, a butterfly species that has been abundant this spring in central Texas.
Date: April 11. Location: TX 71 west of Austin.
© 2012 Steven Schwartzman
Is that an insect smiling for your camera? Choice!
Shannon
May 22, 2012 at 7:04 AM
And now you’ve made me smile: I hadn’t thought about it that way.
Steve Schwartzman
May 22, 2012 at 7:14 AM
There, too? I have never seen so many red admirals! We have several types of milkweed, but not this one.
sandy
May 22, 2012 at 7:50 AM
From what I gather, this has been a good year for red admirals in many places. I don’t know how to account for it elsewhere, but here many species are rebounding, thanks to some rain, after last year’s terrible drought.
Steve Schwartzman
May 22, 2012 at 12:07 PM
Well, that’s just fantastic.
The World Is My Cuttlefish
May 22, 2012 at 11:07 AM
And yet real, and no fantasy.
Steve Schwartzman
May 22, 2012 at 12:07 PM