The Gulf Fritillary

The butterfly bush is attracting some very lovely visitors.

A gulf fritillary butterfly Agraulis vanillae spent a long time sipping nectar from several flowerheads on the bush.

This is the first time I noticed that they have a brown and white striped abdomen.

From above they have bright orange wings with distinctive symmetrical black spots and black circle patterns.

An interesting fact about the larva of these butterflies - they feed exclusively on some species of passionflowers.

Their body is very hairy.

And it REALLY loves the nectar of the flowers on this butterfly bush.

It spent about ten minutes on the bush, moving in circles on each flowerhead as it fed on the nectar.