Thanks to dBgraphix (Doug) for helping me identify this as a larval Gulf Fritillary. This is the Florida variety, not the Californian. In its butterfly stage, it looks a lot like some of the butterflies danob (Danny) has posted in his Macro Alien series. Upon reading about it, I discovered that it's primary food source is the Passionflower Vine. Doh! I just bought one for my garden!! It was eating something else though...so I'll just have to keep an eye out for it and pluck any I find...wearing garden gloves of course. I really like the colors on this specimen, and the way it's spikes seem like polished black coral. I left him and a friend alone after taking a few photos. This image turned out the clearest. It is much easier photographing them at this stage -- they can't fly away on you. ;-] I wanted to post it large, but settling on giving you the full view here, and a large detail of it's head in the FORUM. Olympus C8080 with color enhancement, border and other fine tuning in PhotoshopCS. ----- Gulf fritillary (Agraulis vanillae incarnata) Lepidoptera: Heliconiidae Characteristics: Bright orange on dorsal wing surface with black markings; ventral hindwing with silver spots. Forewing length: 25-39 mm. Similar Species: The only other Orange County butterflies with silver spots on the ventral hindwing are the true fritillaries (genus Speyeria). However, the wing shape of Agraulis vanillae differs markedly from that of Speyeria. Habits: Often found gliding through city yards, most common near stands of the larval food plant, passion flower vine. Distribution: Limited almost solely to the cities and suburbs. Flight Period: Continuously brooded. We have Orange County records for nearly every month, although the butterfly appears most commonly in September. Ron Vanderhoff records the species primarily from May to November in Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa. Larval Foodplants: Introduced Passion flower vine (Passiflora spp.). This is one butterfly that could not breed in Orange County before the establishment of the foodplant as an ornamental. ----- (this information was gathered from: MAMBA) To see the life cycle of this amazing creature, visit sasionline.org.