Despite our cool, rainy spring, our little Lepidoptera friends are emerging for the season. They are eagerly eating their host plants in order to move to their next instar and metamorphose into butterflies and moths. One colorful caterpillar seen recently is the variegated fritillary (Euptoieta claudia). It favors violets, passion flowers, mayapple common purslane and stonecrops. Its range is very widespread, having been reported in almost every US state.
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