It hasn’t been quite as smooth sailing as it could have been. One of the caterpillars seemed to go into a semi-hibernation for three days and I actually thought it was dead on the leaf. Much to my surprise it eventually shed its skin and went on eating and growing after that hiatus. It’s now in a chrysalis. Meanwhile the other caterpillar stayed on schedule and transformed into a chrysalis. However, instead of spinning silk by which it attaches to a substrate (twig, leaf, etc.), it simply crawled to the bottom of the enclosure and turned into a chrysalis right there! I’ve never seen this happen before and didn’t think this position would be conducive to proper development, so I decided to administer some first aid. When the chrysalis hardened off, I simply made a girdle out of thread and using some white glue attached it, mimicking the natural position, on a twig. Fingers crossed, I could only hope there wasn’t some disease or genetic disposition for self-destruction at work.
Fourteen days later I began to notice some color changes in the chrysalis.
Later that evening, the color changes were even more dramatic and the wing patterns could be seen through the increasingly transparent chrysalis wall.
I knew that the next morning there would be a butterfly. I was fooled, however, because sometime during the hours after midnight the butterfly eclosed. I discovered it at 3:30 AM. I’ve never before had a butterfly eclose after dark.
Early next morning the butterfly was enticed to climbed onto a stick and was gingerly moved outdoors. Because sexes are similar in Giant Swallowtails, I don’t know if this is a male or female. I do know it’s a beauty!
It was placed in the sun on a mesquite branch where we could keep an eye on it. Eventually the sun’s rays provided the warmth it needed to take off on its maiden flight. A successful ending to the many perilous steps from egg to butterfly.
January 6th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Thanks for this post. This is exactly what I wanted to know! You attached the chrysalis beautifully. Excellent photos, too