CUBE's Big Butterfly Challenge🏆


I took a video of butterflies near my home while going for groceries. There were 5-7 butterflies which were prominently yellow in color with some black spots on the edge of the wings. I took the photos of the plants on which they were wandering upon. CUBE Curiosity Lab, Ulwe, Navi Mumbai. 27th Sept 2023. Video: Abhijeet Singh.

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This plant was there in the area in which butterflies were hovering upon. I don’t know which plant it is. How do we go for identification of this plant. CUBE Curiosity Lab, Ulwe Navi Mumbai. 27th Sept 2023. Photo: Abhijeet Singh


This is another plant. How do we identify this plant for identification of butterflies wandering on it? CUBE Curiosity Lab, Ulwe Navi Mumbai. 27th Sept 2023. Photo: Abhijeet Singh

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Today i was able to capture another type of butterflies in Ulwe :smiley:. This place is almost 1 KM away from my home area. And i saw around 5 white colored butterflies. I was able to capture one pair of butterflies mating. The butterfly is White in color and on the edges of the wings are black color which are making pattern with the scales. The antenna of this butterfly is club shaped. The smaller butterfly (which i guess is male) has a yellow color stripe on its forewings. I will name this butterfly as Black Wing Edge CUBE Curiosity Lab, Ulwe, Navi Mumbai. 28th Sept 2023, video: Abhijeet Singh.

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Close-up photograph. Of Black Wing Edge mating. CUBE Curiosity Lab, Ulwe, Navi Mumbai. 28th Sept 2023, video: Abhijeet Singh.

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This was the plant the Black Wing Edge butterfly were mating on. As per Google lens it’s Alternanthera ficoide and it’s marathi name is Kusal. CUBE Curiosity Lab, Ulwe, Navi Mumbai. 28th Sept 2023, video: Abhijeet Singh.

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UNIVERSE CONSPIRING FOR BIG BUTTERFLY CHALLENGE?!!:rofl:! i was just standing in my balcony and i observed an egg-like structure on the Crape layered Jasmine plant in my balcony. There were a total of 6 eggs on different leaves. How to culture this if it’s a egg ? @⁨Theertha CUBE⁩ @⁨Lakshmy Cube⁩ @⁨Shraddha Cube⁩ and others …? CUBE Homelab Ulwe Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, 29th Sept 2023, Photo: Abhijeet Singh.

This is the plant Crape layered Jasmine plant in my Balcony on which I found those eggs. CUBE Homelab, Ulwe Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. 29th Sept 2023, Photo: Abhijeet Singh.

Tabernaemontana divaricata, commonly called pinwheel flower,[3] crape jasmine, East India rosebay, and Nero’s crown,[4] is an evergreen shrub or small tree native to South Asia, Southeast Asia and China.[1] In zones where it is not hardy it is grown as a house/glasshouse plant for its attractive flowers and foliage. The stem exudes a milky latex when broken, whence comes the name milk flower.

Crape jasmine, Moonbeam, Carnation of India • Hindi: Chandni चांदनी , Tagar तगर, Tagari तगरी • Kannada: ನಂದಿಬಟ್ಟಲು Nandi battalu,ನಂಜುಬಟ್ಟಲು Nanju battalu, ನಂದ್ಯಾವರ್ತ Nandyaavarta, ತಗರ Tagara • Mizo: Par-arsi, Kelte-bengbeh Battalu • Tamil: நந்தியார்வட்டை Nandiar vattai • Gujarati: Sagar • Marathi: Ananta, Tagar • Sanskrit: नन्द्यावर्त Nandyaavarta
http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Crape%20Jasmine.html


BREAKING NEWS!!! The eggs on the plant hatched today. When i observed today at 9:17pm i took this video. I saw that ants are attacking the caterpillar :skull::skull:. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to save this one because it fell down and i couldn’t spot it again. But i was able to save 4 others from ant attack. Send videos in the next post. CUBE Homelab Ulwe Navi Mumbai, 1st Oct 2023, Video: Abhijeet Singh.


Like this I found 3 more caterpillars. :partying_face::star_struck::star_struck: I tear 3 leaves on this these caterpillars were there and kept them in a jar. CUBE Homelab Ulwe Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra India. 1st Oct 2023, Video: AbhijeetSingh

This is the jar in which I’ve kept 4 caterpillars. One of them still seems to be enjoying the egg delicacy :joy:. 2 visible in the frame and 2 chaps are roaming around the back side. CUBE Homelab Ulwe Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, 1st Oct 2023, Video: AbhijeetSingh.

Well I found one more just now. So there are in total 5 Caterpillars. Cube Homelab Ulwe Navi Mumbai Maharashtra India. 1st Oct 2023, photo: AbhijeetSingh.


I found 2 more caterpillars in the morning🥳. One of them is a bit bigger and greener assuming it has eaten the leaves as seen in the photo. I collected the leave and put it in the jar. CUBE Homelab, Ulwe Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, 2nd Oct 2023, Photo: Abhijeet Singh.

Hi,

In your first picture, given the yellow coloured flower, the 5 petals, and the shape of the leaves, I think it is from the gourd family. I have seen bittergourd (karela) flowers and they look something like this.

Female flower
By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Sanu_N" title="User:Sanu N">Sanu N</a> - <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

However, other plants in the gourd family also have yellow coloured flowers. For example, see the sponge gourd:

Luffa aegyptiaca Blanco2.334-cropped.jpg
By Francisco Manuel Blanco (O.S.A.) - Flora de Filipinas [...] Gran edicion [...] [Atlas II].<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es">[1]</a>, Public Domain, Link

We will need to look closely at the shape of the leaves or maybe other features of the plant to determine which one it is.

For the second plant, I just put in “yellow flowers with four petals” into a search and after a bit of exploring, found the genus Ludwigia, which seemed to have flowers similar to this. Then I searched further for descriptions of Ludwigia and found this paper which describes the various species and their distribution within India: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286692622_The_genus_Ludwigia_Onagraceae_in_India

Based on going through the pictures, looking at the flower shape and the leaf serration, it looks like it could be Ludwigia linifolia or Ludwigia decurrens.

However, I am not able to determine which of the two it is. Can anyone think of specific features of the plant that we can look at?

Abhijeet are you in a position to photograph these plants again, if needed?

Heyy @chaitanya
I’m very pleased for your interest and helping me out in identification of plant. Well it turns out the 1st Flower is from Malvaceae Family. It’s called as Malachra capitata.
http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Brazil%20Jute.html

And you are correct about the second flower.
Ludwigia peruviana, Onagracea Family.
http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Peruvian%20Water%20Primrose.html


Update on the caterpillar story Day 3. Today I changed the leaves with fresh new leaves as the old ones were getting dried up. Only 3 caterpillars are alive now. All of them are around 1cm in length and ~2mm in width. Their color is yellowish-green. And they have Black color rail towards the end. CUBE Homelab, Ulwe, Navi Mumbai, 3rd oct 2023, video AbhijeetSingh.

@Arunan sir helped us identifying this caterpillar. He posted this link Short Notes on Nature Singapore

Well it turns out it’s a caterpillar of Oleander Hawk Moth aka Daphnis nerii.

Nerium oleanderis a very toxic plantbut
Daphnis neriiare immune towards its toxicity. The adults feed on nectar of a variety of fragrant flowers like petunia,
jasmine and honeysuckle. They are active in the night time, visiting the flowers after the sunset.They are common
throughout the year; the monsoon season brings the increase in their population size. Summer month were the
quiescent period of the reproductionof Daphnis nerii, and monsoon season promotes the reproduction activity. Influence Of Temperature&relative Humidity On The Survival Of Daphnis Nerii (lepidoptera: Sphingidiae) And Its Food Efficacy On Host Plantin Arid And Semi-arid Region.


I was able to capture the caterpillar feeding on the leaves of Capre Jasmin :grin::grin:. Here is a 9 sec Timelapse video. CUBE Homelab, Ulwe, Navi Mumbai, 3rd Oct 2023. Video: Abhijeet Singh.

By any chance, is this Shraddha CUBE GardenLab Panvel’s famous Psyche butterfly, seeking to expand its host plant range? @Abhi0703


Only 1 caterpillar survived. 4th Oct 2023, CUBE Homelab Ulwe, Navi Mumbai.
I keep added fresh leaves and clearing the poop.