Help Identify Caterpillar On Passionflower Vine

[Nifty]

We've got a Passionflower vine that is getting devoured by these guys. Any ideas what they are?

They only seem to be going after the Passionflower vine, and nothing else in the garden / yard.

Once we figure them out, we'll determine if it's safe to feed them to the chickens, and then how to keep them away.

 

[R2elk]

We've got a Passionflower vine that is getting devoured by these guys. Any ideas what they are?

View attachment 42032

They only seem to be going after the Passionflower vine, and nothing else in the garden / yard.

Once we figure them out, we'll determine if it's safe to feed them to the chickens, and then how to keep them away.

It appears to be a Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar.

It is not uncommon for a caterpillar to be tied to a specific plant. Other such examples are the Monarch butterfly and its link to Milkweed, Tomato Hornworms and tomato plants and Grape hornworms and their link to grape vines.

 

[Nifty]

Winner!!! Yup, that seems to be what we've got!

Ok, so no feeding it to the chickens.

... now my GF has to make the hard decision what she likes more:

1. Healthy passionflower vine
2. Happy butterflies

 

[Nifty]

Well, we ended up with a lot of these:

... and then a ton of these flying around, mating, and (assuming) laying eggs:

The GF is still struggling with how she wants to proceed.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

If it makes you feel any better, I have the same dilemma every time we get Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars (a.k.a. "parsley worms" on the carrots, or the fennel, or the dill) I want my veggies, but I want pretty butterflies as well.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If it makes you feel any better, I have the same dilemma every time we get Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars (a.k.a. "parsley worms" on the carrots, or the fennel, or the dill) I want my veggies, but I want pretty butterflies as well.

You mean one of these. I got them on parsley and dill when I was in Arkansas. I left them alone, I had enough plants that I got what I needed.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Yeah probably. I say "probably" because there are THREE kinds of swallowtail that eat those plants found in the US, the Eastern Black (East Coast) the Anise (West Coast) and the Old World (introduced, so could be anywhere). Being in the middle of the nation, Arkansas could have one two or all three of these. It sort of depends on what the butterflies looked like, If they were black, they were Eastern Blacks, if yellow, could be either of the other two.

 

[Ridgerunner]

They were black