I have a passion flower in my back yard, i am in extreme south louisiana..50 miles southwest of new orleans.
the first year that we were visited by the gulf fritillary butterfly, and the show that followed fascinated us. the butterflies, the eggs they laid, and the gorgeous, fat orange caterpillars..and then the cyle starts over. we are on our 4th year now..
i notice that "orange" things are attracted to the passion flower...mostly, i see clusters of orange assassin bugs...the butterflies are magnificently orange, their eggs are....orange. the plump beautiful caterpillars are beauties...and they're ORANGE....
are the assassin bugs after the eggs, the caterpillars? is there anything i can do to deter the assassin bugs, if they indeed are harmful to the butterfly cycle...? Thanks. Perry