[TN-Butterflies] Re: Polk County has an Interesting Visitor
- From: Rita Venable <ritavenable@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: kjchilds@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:37:48 -0500
Well, the ones in Williamson Co. were found on plants that were bulbs from
previous years. Actually, I found the caterpillars first on the plants.
Nashville, too.
Rita Venable, Franklin, TN
Williamson Co.
On Sun, Aug 29, 2010 at 4:48 PM, kjchilds <kjchilds@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> "are occasional passengers with northbound nursery shipments of Cana" would
> explain why the 2 other TN county records are around Nashville.
>
>
> Ken Childs
> Henderson, TN
> Chester County
>
> http://www.finishflagfarms.com
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>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Julius Basham <juliusbasham@xxxxxxxxx>
> *To:* TN Butterflies <TN-Butterflies@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> *Sent:* Sun, August 29, 2010 9:53:53 AM
> *Subject:* [TN-Butterflies] Polk County has an Interesting Visitor
>
> When you walk up to a patch of thistles in Tennessee you don't really
> expect to see a Skipper about three times bigger than all the other
> Skippers. But that's exactly what we saw yesterday near Paddy Bridge.
> This wandering Brazilian Skipper was at least 2 miles from the nearest
> patch of Cana, (which it so dearly loves) and seemed quite happy to nectar
> on this fall thistle.
> Here it is shown with a Clouded Skipper for size comparison. The Clouded is
> a fairly large Skipper, as Skippers go, but look at the size of the
> Brazilian. He's a big dog.
>
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>
> He was quite skittish at first, and would be off with a mighty whirring of
> wings when approached, but he gradually became accustomed to human presence
> and calmed down a bit.
>
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>
> Brazilians are North America's largest grass Skipper and are kind of a
> cinnamony brown with three or four translucent moonmarks on the Ventral
> hindwing. They also have variable translucent marks on the forewing that
> usually cannot be seen due to the way they hold their wings most of the
> time.
> Their body shape is similar to our Ocola Skipper.
>
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>
> They have an extremely long haustellum, and seem to be able to take nectar
> from blossoms on the far side of the flower that they are perched upon.
>
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>
> No one seems to know for sure if the migrate this far north, or are
> occasional passengers with northbound nursery shipments of Cana. They
> certainly are strong fliers so it wouldn't surprise me to find out that both
> methods of dispersal are true.
> Whatever the case, it has been at least five years since we have seen an
> individual of this species in Polk County, so it's nice, to again find, one
> of these rare visitors to Tennessee.
>
> At the same location we found an interesting seed pod that looks like a
> Blackberry.
> It is evidently called Blackberry Lily, because of these seeds, and has a
> gorgeous orange Tiger Lily looking flower earlier in the year.
> It is a non-native and is originally from China.
>
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>
> The base of the plant gives away it's membership in the Iris Family.
>
>
>
> Julius Basham
> Chattanooga, Tennessee
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