daverogers's Identifications

Female (21.08.2024) - https://www.biodiversity4all.org/observations/237150514;
Egg (21.08.2024) - https://www.biodiversity4all.org/observations/237150669;
Larva (27.08.2024) - https://www.biodiversity4all.org/observations/238326567;
Larva (06.09.2024) - https://www.biodiversity4all.org/observations/240200596;
Larva (07.09.2024) - https://www.biodiversity4all.org/observations/240290721;
Larva (19.09.2024) - https://www.biodiversity4all.org/observations/242718415;
Larva (27.09.2024) - https://www.biodiversity4all.org/observations/244402591;
Larva (06.10.2024) - https://www.biodiversity4all.org/observations/245986024;
Larva (20.10.2024) - https://www.biodiversity4all.org/observations/248233866;
Prepupa (23.10.2024) - https://www.biodiversity4all.org/observations/248716126;
Prepupa (24.10.2024) - https://www.biodiversity4all.org/observations/248921840;

With Don Fraser. The weather at the start was sunny and 76 degrees ("feels like" 76), with a light breeze. I counted the following butterflies, mostly on the blooming Bristle Thistles: 68 swallowtails, 69 skippers, 7 sulphurs, and 1 Gulf Fritillary. This was the day that I learned that Larger Florida Mantises are killing machines, somthing I had wondered about in 2023, as the numbers of skippers declined through the fall season. Do and I watched one mantis capture and consume one Twin-spot Skipper (1024-1035) and then immediately capture and eat a second Twin-spot Skipper (1037-1041), then capture and consume a third Twin-spot Skipper (1055-1108) and then instantly start hunting a Palmetto Skipper, which escaped at the last possible milli-second, and then try to capture a Palamdes Swallowtail, which also escaped at the last milli-second. I did not enjoy watching the killing sequences, but I did not intervene at all. We left here at 1122 (after 2 hours!) and headed to Scrub Island Road.