r/butterfly

One week before I was gardening and came across this caterpillar 🐛. A week later at my front door was this beautiful moth(?). Was this the same caterpillar from a week before?💚💚💚💚💚💚💚🩵💚💚

I had just mentioned that I’ve never seen one of these in California and then was out on my walk and spotted this little guy. Thank you to the person who brought my attention to this unique butterfly.

My cat got to this butterfly in the backyard and it's wing is now torn/damaged. Could it fly again?

Awesome 💕

Not sure where to post, as it’s hard finding others who keep injured butterflies, but i’m feeling really worried about Lila.

She is a 5 week old cethosia penthesilea (orange lacewing butterfly. Their typical average lifespan in the wild is 7-10 days and she has gone way past that. She emerged with a crumpled wing so i took her in to care for her. On the exact same day my mother found an injured Common crow butterfly at work, and brought her home to me. So Lila got a friend. They would always roost together, find spots to sleep, explore the enclosure, climb and come down to feed. Common Crows typically live a lot longer than Orange Lacewings (11-13 weeks), and lately i’ve seen the effects of old age hitting Lila. Her friend Queenie can still climb, but Lila’s tarsi must be worn down or maybe she’s too weak and she just can’t climb anymore. She needs help with everything now and just sits there sadly. I’m happy taking care of her, but if she can’t even climb and explore, what kind of life is that anymore? I’m even more sad, as i brought them a new buddy named Omelette who’s wings are worse than Lila’s but she’s up roosting with Queenie like Lila used to. And Lila is simply too weak to get up there.

She doesn’t seem to be suffering, but i know she’s on her last few days. Should i let her pass naturally in her enclosure or just euthanise her now?

Found this poor baby in a gas station lot. He was weak when i first found him and has gotten some strength back but still cant fly or even glide. Ill keep him until he is able to fly or passes on, in which case ill pin him and cherish the experience and time he's spent w me :>

I almost missed her. She was very still and sitting on the asphalt of a busy street. I put my hand out and she climbed on. I placed her in the greenery by the street. She was still there later just hanging out. I felt very lucky to have found her and to see her beauty up close.

hello! looking for help id-ing this butterfly found in Trinity County in northern california. I tried looking on iNaturalist for local black and white butterflies but could not find something similar. Looks to be about 2 inch wingspan!

I apologize it's a bit blurry. I caught this picture on my IPhone and had it zoomed in

So sweet 💕