Pink and White Lantana Featuring Amorous Flies and Butterflies

To add vibrancy to the garden, it is always a strategic move to have some butterfly attractants to the garden.  One of this is Lantana Camara. 

Lantana camara has small tubular shaped flowers arranged in terminal clusters. Each tiny flower has four petals. The flowers on the outer ring of the cluster open first, followed by the next inner row. The buds appeared as little bows.

I like this combination of sweet pastel colours. The mix of baby pink and light cream flowers is almost perfect.

A female Jacintha Egg Fly (Hypolimnas bolina jacintha) frolicked on this shrub.

This Jacintha Egg Fly can be seen extending its long proboscis deep into the tubular part of the tiny flowers. 

Another had its wings slightly open revealing its gender - a male.

A tiny yellow butterfly took refuge from the heat on the underside of a leaf.


"Flies in the family Sarcophagidae (from the Greek sarco- = flesh,  phage = eating; the same roots as the word "sarcophagus") are commonly known as flesh flies. They differ from most flies in that they are ovoviviparous, opportunistically depositing hatched or hatching maggots instead of eggs on carrion, dung, decaying material, or open wounds of mammals, hence their common name." ~extracted from Wikipedia

CAUTION: The following three photos are X-rated. Self-censorship is strongly advised.

One day while looking for bugs, my lens zoom in on an amorous pair of flesh flies (Sarcophaga carnaria).

This pair were caught in flagrante delicto right on the leaf of my L. camara.

"Flesh flies are often mistaken for houseflies due to their coloration and markings. However, their gray-checkered abdomens are distinctively larger than those of the housefly. Typically, flesh flies exhibit three dark stripes along the prothorax and four distinct bristles atop the thorax. An extra row of bristles is found beneath the flesh flies’ wings and yet another can be found at each side of the thorax. Flesh flies measure approximately 10 to 13 mm from end to end. Larvae are yellow in color, with pointed heads. Along with bottle and blowflies, flesh flies prove useful to forensic entomologists. These fly larvae may assist in pinpointing time of death. ~ extracted from Wikipedia

Flesh flies reproduce on decaying vegetable items, animal flesh, carcasses, garbage and excrement. Although flesh flies do not bite and are not carriers of disease, their feeding habits can become a nuisance. However, larvae can also prove beneficial to humans, as they are parasitic on the eggs and immatures of other pests such as grasshoppers, blowflies, houseflies, spiders and snails." ~extracted from http://www.orkin.com

A container of Lantanas in assorted colours.


A "Painted Lady" butterfly winging colours to compete with these striking orange-yellow Lantana flowers.

The following two images on my pet guinea pig was added on 3.8.14

I presented some Lantana flowers to Nikolai ...

... but he sniffed at them disdainfully. I like his pink lips and two front teeth on both upper and lower jaws :)

A few heads of the pastel Pink and white Lantana camara in a white vase.

Quisqualis indica and Lantana - Amazing Butterfly Attractants

It is very evident that Quisqualis indica (Rangoon creeper) and Lantana camara provide plenty of opportunities for viewing beautiful butterflies that flutter into the garden.

 
Double-petaled Quisqualis indica


  It exudes a lovely fragrant smell for a perfumed garden.

 
 A female Hypolimnas bolina jacintha (Jacintha Egg Fly)



The Lesser Gull Butterfly - Cepora Nadina

A butterfly 'painted lady' reposing on the foliage of Quisqualis indica.

A big shrub of  Lantana camara (sunset)






A butterfly 'painted lady' sipping nectar from the numerous florets. She is simply  spoilt for choice,

 
 

Zizula hylax pygmaea (Pygmy Grass Blue)

A male Hypolimnas bolina jacintha (Jacintha Egg Fly)

Clear Wing Moth on leaf of Lantana camara.


Other butterflies love the Lantanas too. This Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hecabe contubernalis) was found perched on the underside of lantana leaf.

Pleasing Visits From The Jacintha Egg-fly

Of late, the Jacintha Egg-fly (Hypolimnas bolina jacintha) have descended on my garden and designated it as one of their playgrounds. They fluttered in and out, taking sweet 'tea breaks' on flowers and breathers on foliage and other assorted objects.

Love is like a butterfly: It goes where it pleases and it pleases wherever it goes. ~ Anonymous

 

One of these lovely butterflies decided to be adventurous and fluttered onto the blades of a toy wind-mill.

Here it spread its wings, displaying its beautiful blue-fringed white markings, indicating that its a male. The bright yellow bells of Tecoma stans beckon in the background.

Yellow Tecoma stans with red Alpinia purpurata in the background.

The reticulated leaf of Pseuderanthemum reticulatum under full sunshine made an attractive landing pad

 for this male Hypolimnas bolina jacintha to chill out. With the wings folded up, it looked completely different; just brown and white colouring without the the bluish tinge.

Nearby, another male Jacintha Egg-fly settled on the leaves of a Hibiscus bush, H. rosa-sinensis 'snowflake'.

The male Great Egg Fly can easily be distinguished from the females by the circular markings on the upper side of its wings.

It is rather difficult to differentiate from the underside.

It then fluttered to the leaves of Bauhenia kockiana. The red buds of Ruellias elegans can be seen in the background.


An inflorescence of Bauhenia kockiana. 


 Another one of these butterflies landed on the leaf of Ochna Kirkii. Here it perched unperturbly and actually ignored my presence.

Ochna Kirkii aka Mickey Mouse plant.

When it got tired of verdant surroundings, it flew to a wooden post for a change of ambience.


This female Hypolimnas bolina is taking a breather on the leaves of ...


 Quisqualis indica aka Rangoon creeper.

 The egg-like markings are absent on the females.

 

Sometimes, when at rest, it slowly opens and closes its wings.

They tend to take a respite from the scorching sun by hanging upside down on the underside of leaves. A favourite hangout is the Baphia nitida which is a border or hedge plant in the garden.

The leaves of Baphia nitida have a light pandan plant () fragrance. However there is no discernible scent from the flower.


It even landed on the dustpan.


This must be a very curious female Jacintha Egg-fly!

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'snowflake' is a flower much favoured by butterflies.