I found the Coccon of this one on a brug leaf that had fallen off and thought I would bring it in the house and give it a better chance to hatch.
Wow..... I caught the whole thing and took step by step photos to share with all...Hope you enjoy them I think there are about 8 photos in the group. :o)
Dee
And another of the coccon getting a little lighter, this took place about an hour before it began to open.....
Now begining to open a bit.... :o)
Sorry we are having a terriable storm here and my power just bumped and the computer went off.....bare with me and I will try and get these photos up ........ :o)
Dee
Ok now I'll try and get number 4 up and hope I can keep going long enough to finish this.... :o)
Dee
and now number 5, so far so good..... :o)
Dee
Number 6, and he is open and out really good... wow this is something..... :o)
And only a couple more.... :o)
Dee
And the empty shell......... :o)
Dee
And of course theres more out there and I'm sure I will have this oppertunity again one day..... LOL.... This is the last photo I hope yall enjoy them...... :o)
Dee
That is SO cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love that we are able to share things like this! Thanks!
Butterfly watching is so much fun. Both my girls did this in class, but I bet it is more fun in your own yard. Thanks for the pics :-)
Here is a similar life history, but this time from Australia. I have one of the native mistletoes, Drooping Mistletoe - Amyema pendula http://plantsdatabase.com/go/56970/index.html growing on a Black Wattle in our garden. The first stage of this story is a mass of tiny yellow eggs on a mistletoe leaf.
and these hatched into these minute, but voracious caterpillars
Kennedyh What else do they become? ....Are they moth larva or a small butterfly? :o)
Dee
Well the caterpillars grow a lot bigger and feed communally on the mistletoe.
before weaving a communal web in which they all pupate. The mistletoe by then is almost completely defoliated
That is sooo cool, what do they turn out to be?....are they moths.....I'm trying to be patient...but this is too exciting.... :o)
Dee
The chrysalises turn black before they hatch. One day I chanced on the communal web at the right time just as several of the butterflies were emerging
The final result is the Imperial White butterfly - Delias harpalyce. They are fairly large butterflies brightly coloured on their under wings. They rarely perch with their wings spread and I have no photo of their upper wings. The upper wing of the male is white with a broad border of black. The female is similar, but the white is replaced with grey. They feed their caterpillars only on mistletoe, so we are very pleased that the mistletoe has found its way into our garden.
This message was edited May 14, 2004 4:29 AM
Oh My, they are just beautiful. What a wonderful surprise to have such a pretty butterfly for such an ugly worm.....LOL...I was sure betting it was a moth.....
That was great Kennedyh, you did a great job.....Thanks so much for shareing it with us..... :o)
Dee
Wow! Isn't it grand to be able to witness things like this?
Lifes just amazing!!!
Gosh Ken, If I saw those webs here I'd get out the spray can thinking they were tent catapillars.... a terrible pest here. At least yours turn into a pretty butterfly. Ours turn into a yucky moth.
Willow Wasp, that is a great photo post!! butterfly gardening is so nice---except when they eat my passies.
Johanna
Thanx Thanx Thanx that was fun kinda like PBS
what a wonderful thread. Glad you brought it back up Dee. I was able to get Monarchs hatching at Christmas and got good pics too
WW that was so neat!!! I had a similar experience last year, with the very same kind of butterfly, except that I didn't quite catch the phases that you did!! Seeing your pictures gave me the thrill all over again, that I had last year.
Thanks for sharing,
PiggyPoo :0)
Editing to say I just realized that this was an old thread, resurfaced, but still AWESOME!
This message was edited Jun 21, 2006 1:19 PM
How incredible to catch a butterfly just before the hatching starts. I've seen them after, but congrats to everyone with this experience!
I love to watch them morph. Way cool.
So far this year I have only seen about 2 or 3 of these Cat's so I am wondering "What happened to them"?
I don't remember them running in cycles do any of you? Last year there were soooo many.
I am looking everyday to find another one. I have noticed there are fewer butterflies this year, far less than last year.
WW, glad you brought this thread back as I hadn't seen it. Very good photography. Don't have many butterflies here in my area. glad you were able to share such interesting photos with us . And you too kennedyh.
Donna
Our butterflies have been in a decline for a few years now. Don't know why.
There's a group of Folk's out at College Station........or as most of us know it, Aggieland. They say the fire ant population of the past years is causing the demise of alot of our critters. Hummmm, I know I don't see very many rabbits, quail and other critters as I use to. When I was a kid at home our pasture was covered with quail and in the fall tons of Dove, but no longer are they around. Maybe them Aggies are on to something, ya think??? Course the ants haven't made a dent in the population of Squirrels......
Dee
That's terrible if it's true. Laugh over the squirrels.
The thought of ever having fire ants scares me. That's one thing I never want, besides african bees and any bug in Austrailia.
