Category Archives: Flowers

Banana stalk flies mating

Banana stalk flies mating on the spadix of an Anthurium schlechtendalii
This is a pair of banana stalk flies (Telostylinus lineolatus) mating on a …wait minute, that’s not a banana stalk. In fact it’s the spadix of an Anthurium schlechtendalii or Pheasant’s tail.

I had to hunt around a bit to identify the insect, but found useful information at whatsthatbug.com. One thing I liked was where it stated, “With enormous eyes, this tiny, tropical, stilt-legged fly maintains a confident distance from human approach, by swiftly running around the blind-side of whatever surface it is on.” This made me laugh because that was EXACTLY what this pair did when I tried to photograph them.

May Day is Lei Day

Plumeria flowers are widely used in leis.
May 1 has been celebrated as Lei Day in Hawaii since 1929 and is a celebration of Hawaiian culture. Each island has a different lei. The Island of Hawaii (the Big Island) features the Ohia blossom.

Plumeria flowers such as these, still attached to the tree, are often used in leis because of their fragrance and rich colors.

A passion vine butterfly lays her eggs

A passion vine butterfly lays an egg.
I watched this passion vine butterfly flitting around on a hedge, laying eggs atop the leaves of, you guessed it, a passion vine growing in the hedge. Typically, she deposits a single egg on each leaf, but this butterfly laid two on this one.

The butterfly is selective about which leaves to use. She chooses ones that have no eggs on them yet, since this will reduce the competition for her offspring. On the leaf she’s using in the photo are some yellow spots. I thought these might be where eggs had been laid previously, but some passion vines produce these colored bumps to make it look like eggs are already there and thus discourage the butterfly.

Not that laying eggs on unoccupied leaves guarantees survival. I saw a number of small parasitic wasps checking out the yellow bumps on several leaves. I have no doubt they do the same with the real eggs. I also saw a very small passion vine butterfly caterpillar snacking on what looked suspiciously like a newly-laid egg. And there’s always the possibility that someone will come along and trim the hedge. Not sure what the vine or the butterfly can do about that.