Tag Archives: Garden Acraea

A window into the life cycle of the Garden Acraea

The Garden Acraea is by far the most numerous butterfly in our little garden, and as I type this there’s at least a dozen of them flitting around the plumbago and Cape honeysuckle shrubs in my field of view. This year I’ve paid even more attention than usual to them and been rewarded with a window into their fascinating life cycle.

Two Garden Acraeas mating

In April we started noticing large numbers of caterpillars in their final instar moving around the garden, with some of them even finding safe refuges on the patio furniture and security bars in front of the windows where they could start their metamorphosis.

Garden Acraea caterpillar looking for a place to pupate

It took several months for them to shed their last caterpillar “skin” to reveal the hard chrysalis inside which they were transforming. Sadly some of the pupae dropped from their safe havens, but I could save a few from marauding ants and put them in a jar on my desk where I could keep a close eye on them.

Garden Acraea Pupa

Garden Acraea Pupae

Garden Acraea Pupa

It didn’t take anywhere near as long – only a few weeks – for the adult butterflies to start emerging.

Newly emerged Garden Acraea

Soon their wings were unfurled and they could take flight in the same garden where they started their lives.

One of the pupaes I kept in a jar on my desk taking on the wide world outside

Aiming at Diederikkies

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The housing complex where we live here in Pretoria has seen a proliferation of Garden Acraea butterflies and their caterpillars over the past few weeks.

Garden Acraea in our garden (photo by Joubert)

These in turn have been a boon for the Diederik Cuckoos that visit our part of the world in summer. Caterpillars are a staple for them.

Diederik Cuckoo (photo by Joubert)

Diederik with caterpillar (photo by Joubert)

Diederik male gifting a caterpillar to the female (photo by Joubert)

Diederik family squabble (photo by Joubert)

Diederik Cuckoo (photo by Joubert)

Diederik Cuckoo that caught a Garden Acraea(photo by Joubert)

Diederik Cuckoo (photo by Joubert)

An added bonus for the Diederikkies are the number of nests of Southern Masked Weavers to be found in our complex gardens. The Diederik Cuckoo is a brood parasite that is especially fond of using weavers as foster parents for their chicks. Of course this isn’t going down too well with the weavers, who frequently dive bomb any Diederikkie found exposed.

Southern Masked Weaver male trying to chase away a Diederik Cuckoo (photo by Joubert)

These photographs were all taken by Joubert in the past couple of days. His examinations are over and for all intents and purposes his Grade 6 year is concluded – all that he still needs to do is collect his report card and certificates. The dramas of the Diederikkies and their neighbours has been great entertainment and Joubert quickly got very adept at using both stories of our townhouse as photographic hides from which to capture their antics. Of course I am very grateful that he loves photography so much rather than vegetating on the couch with tv games.

Garden Acraea

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Acraea horta

As its name implies, the Garden Acraea is a commonly seen butterfly of South African gardens, though its natural habitat preference is for woodland and forested areas in which their larval food plants of choice (mainly Wild Peach and Passion Flowers) occurs. Seen throughout the year, though more commonly in spring and summer, they fly low and slow, relying on their foul taste to deter predators. Adults have a wingspan of around 5cm, with females being slightly larger than males. Garden Acraeas are found along the southern Cape coast, through the Eastern Cape, Free State, Kwazulu-Natal and Gauteng to the North-West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces.