Painted Lady Butterflies Just Passing Through

May 6, 2019

A number of you have checked in about large numbers of larvae and or butterflies that haven't been very common in the past years.  We find them a lot on cheeseweed (Malva), but there is some damage on berries as you can see from the pictures below.

Great post included below from colleague Emily Symmes up in Colusa County on this one; she checked in with UC Emeritus Professor Art Shapiro and the bottom line that our berries are not much of a host.  Plus these guys are just passing through on their migration north. Nice to have them here though for a bit, really pretty butterflies and a lot of them.

http://www.sacvalleyorchards.com/photos-from-the-field/whats-that-caterpillar-on-my-weeds/

Again, thanks to the PCA's for giving the head's up on this one.