We've had lots of Pieris brassicae catoleuca caterpillars in the garden this year. Three waves of them so far. Yesterday, my kids and I had some fun holding them and watching them crawl on our hands. We knew they had a lot of eating to do though, so we only held them for a few seconds ;-).
Here's one of the caterpillars:
And here's what they like to eat:
Here's what I saw this morning at 9:30... (sooo sorry it's blurry)
And this is what I found when I checked again at 12:58 this afternoon (I really didn't think it would happen this fast or I would have taken pics before this):
Then at 1:17 it had sort of twisted oddly....dunno why:
At 1:53 it was no longer turned like it was in the last pic:
At 1:53, head on:
Or maybe he was turned to the side in that previous pic afterall? Either that or he turned back again LOL:
Here's a pic at 3:39 pm...
I'll keep checking on the progress and update every day until s/he emerges :-) I haven't been able to find any data on how long these guys take til they emerge, so I have no idea how long it will be before this finishes LOL
-Julie
This message was edited Jun 23, 2005 2:13 PM
I just read somewhere that the chrysalis stage lasts approximately two weeks.
For this particular butterfly?
Julie, this is terrific series of photos and observations! Thanks.
Diane, can Julie take the chrysalis inside for safe keeping and observation? If so, how?
John
Julie,
Way back in 1969 in England, I found a caterpillar of Pieris Brassica and kept and fed it in a jar to get pictures of the different stages. It was a caterpillar on 6th June, a chrysalis on 14th June and the butterfly emerged on 24th June. That should give you some idea of the timing.
Ken
What a great chrysalis! They are always so scary looking! I guess that's what they are supposed to do, scare away predators. Yeah, my experience has been between 1-2 weeks for mine to eclose. But then again, I've had some Black Swallowtails not hatch for a long time! (not sure what was up with that) Chrysalises can be reattached to other things. I've only done it with Monarchs tho. I'm waiting to see what the butterfly looks like!
Thanks so much Ken and Diane for the help:-).
John, thank you. I'm glad you're enjoying the thread....I feel like a little kid, even if it is "just" a rather common little white butterfly :-)
KKB, luckily this one is in an easily (for me) accessible spot, so I can keep an eye on it. I would move it or put some screening around it if I could, but it's attached to the exterior of my house and I'm afraid of killing it by moving it. So I'll just keep my fingers crossed that no predators get to it. Here's what the butterfly looks like: http://www.nature-of-oz.com/pieridae1.htm . It's the second to last butterfly on that page.
The amazing thing about today is that I also saw a green caterpillar (still don't have an ID on it yet) that looked ready to metamorphose too....but it was already getting dark and it's sort of in a weird spot on my Sage bush, so the pics all turned out bad. I'll go and get a pic first thing tomorrow morning when there's better lighting ... if it's still there. :-)
-Julie
Paige, I meant to tell you above that I agree with what you wrote in another thread....watching them make the chrysalis is absolutely fascinating! I felt pretty stupid actually. I had no idea that their skin just sort of poofed out to create that....I'm not exactly sure what I imagined, but not that. It was like seeing an aliean "changling" doing it's thing before my very eyes! :-) (I'm easily entertained perhaps LOL). I wish my kids had been home from school to watch it. But they were enthralled by the series of pics (yes, I took many many more than I actually posted here LOL).
Oh, it's not just you! I sit and stare at them every time I have them! Is that not amazing?! The first time I saw a Black Swallowtail pupate, I just could not believe it. It just split it's skin and this other "thing" came out!! It was like a science fiction movie to me! LOL!! And I still can't get over that their FEET just fall off with the skin! It was just like a little costume! Can you tell I'm still in awe?! I am always yelling at my boys to come watch them. :)
What a nice presentation from top to bottom. So much useful information from so many knowledgeable people.
Thanks!
Art
Thanks for the education. I thought they spun the chrysalis!
Maggie
Maggie, some moths spin a cocoon and then form their chrysalis inside the cocoon. Here is an example of a Cocoon. It is so dense that you can't see the chrysalis inside it.
here is the caterpillar that preceded the cocoon. All its prickly hairs seem to be woven into the cocoon.
Ken, what kind of moth is that going to be?
and here is the moth that will eventually emerge from the chrysalis and cocoon, it is called the Urticating Anthelid Anthela nicothoe
Maggie, I figured the same thing....that somehow they created this thing and then crawled into it. Thanks for posting those pics of the caterpillar, cacoon and subsequent moth Ken. It's a lovely caterpillar and a beautiful moth :-).
Here's my update for this morning (I'll post a pic every day til this guy ecloses :-):
Thanks Ken...it's funny to me how moths still have characteristics of their cat stage. They usually still have some furry part etc. There is a Tiger Moth here that I love because it looks like it's wearing a little coat with a fur collar.
Julie, you and Maggie are too funny! I don't think I ever really thought about how they morphed tho, just knew they did. Now did you know that when they are in there their entire body breaks down into liquid and the DNA changes and morphs it into the butterfly? TOO WEIRD!
Eeeeeewwwwwwwwww! No I didn't know that happened. Ick! Yet another reason to support these little guys instead of squishing them ;-)
-Julie
