Writer Kathy Keatley Garvey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology sent out a press release today about recent sightings in Sacramento and Davis of the striking orange butterfly.
The Gulf Fritillary is a tropical and subtropical butterfly whose range extends from the southern United States to central Argentina. As a spiny orange-and-black caterpillar, it feeds only on Passion flower leaves, eating many but not all species of the genus Passiflora. There are no native Passion flower plants in the state of California, but they are widely cultivated in gardens and landscapes.
For the news release, Garvey spoke to Arthur Shapiro, an entomology professor at UC Davis. He said scientists don't know how the butterfly made its way to California. It was already living in the San Diego area by about 1875. The first record in the Bay Area was around 1908, but the species does not seem to have become solidly established before the early 1950s, when it was breeding in Berkeley and Hayward.
The Gulf Fritillaries were spotted in Sacramento about five years ago after a 40-year absence. Last year one was found in Davis for the first time in 30 years.
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