Papilio cresphontes (bird poop caterpillar) or swallowtail butterfly larvae
- Thread starter Rajesh Sethi
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Lovely photos. Not all butterflies lay their eggs this way. Some lay a single egg per leaf "paint ball" method, some are very meticulous about ovipositing and will hang from a chosen leaf to deposit one egg, some lay eggs in clusters, some lay eggs on the top of the leaves, some on the bottom. They often eat differently too. Some are very methodical and conservative eaters and some, like the Polydamas Swallowtail, throw their food all over the place.
All of these funny little habits have a reason behind them, some reasons are clear and some reasons cannot be guessed
All of these funny little habits have a reason behind them, some reasons are clear and some reasons cannot be guessed
I am sorry, they left (hope so), I can't find them any more on curry plant or eaten by bird/ giant spider/ jumping spider (I have so many spider in the garden that I have to swing a stick before waking ahead, one will get tangled in their web and after few minutes their webs will be all over you).
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I believe they left their food source to pupate and should be generally within an area of 30 ft from the food source tree. They will be pooping a lot now so if you can find some poops, you might be able to find the location, although they still might be wandering around. Watch your feet and think if i were a caterpillar where would i feel safe? Then look there. They will find a place and stick themselves to a leaf, bark, chair, anything with spit and silk at the hind end and they won't move again from that location. In 2 or 3 days, they will start making their chrysalis. It is amazing to watch. If you have several pupas, they will all move in a different direction. They will emerge from the chrysalis generally between 12 to 16 days, so you have time to possibly find one. Swallowtails sometimes go into diapause (which means they sometimes will stay in the chrysalis for as long as 9 months before emerging (eclosing) so if you find a chrysalis that doesn't emerge within 12 - 16 days it doesn't mean that it is dead so don't remove the chrysalis. Happy hunting!
Found it, it must camouflaged, its hard to notice but its an empty chrysalis.
It must have undergone metamorphosis faster than expected.
I can always find some yellow, blue, brown and black with spots butterfly hovering, it might be one of them.
It must have undergone metamorphosis faster than expected.
I can always find some yellow, blue, brown and black with spots butterfly hovering, it might be one of them.
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Congratulations!
Yes they are very good at camouflage, their survival depends on it. Was there just this one?
Hmmm, they disappeared on March 4, this is March 13 (at least at my house) so that is 9 days. The time they are in the chrysalis depends on the size of the butterfly and the temperature and whether or not they are programmed for diapause. I have had some eclose in 6 days when the night time temps are above 21C (70F) and i have had one eclose after 6 months. The 6 month one was on the wall near a window that i was going to have replaced the next day and i thought it might be dead, so i gently rubbed where the abdomen would be and it banged back so i knew it was alive. I had to move the chrysalis so the window replacement guys would not damage it. Carefully i relocated the chrysalis which was not an easy one to move. The day after the window guys replaced the window, the butterfly emerged. Sorry you were not able to observe the process from pupa to butterfly. It is such a miracle. Maybe next time. Oh, btw i wanted to ask you what is the vine in your avatar?
Yes they are very good at camouflage, their survival depends on it. Was there just this one?Hmmm, they disappeared on March 4, this is March 13 (at least at my house) so that is 9 days. The time they are in the chrysalis depends on the size of the butterfly and the temperature and whether or not they are programmed for diapause. I have had some eclose in 6 days when the night time temps are above 21C (70F) and i have had one eclose after 6 months. The 6 month one was on the wall near a window that i was going to have replaced the next day and i thought it might be dead, so i gently rubbed where the abdomen would be and it banged back so i knew it was alive. I had to move the chrysalis so the window replacement guys would not damage it. Carefully i relocated the chrysalis which was not an easy one to move. The day after the window guys replaced the window, the butterfly emerged
. Sorry you were not able to observe the process from pupa to butterfly. It is such a miracle. Maybe next time. Oh, btw i wanted to ask you what is the vine in your avatar?
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Btw, it looks like your caterpillar is Papilio demoleus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papilio_demoleus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papilio_demoleus
I only found two of them, may be it was the rain that made the leaves much brighter than usual.
thats bitter gourd plant, it died long back, its one of the common veggies found here. As name suggest it taste bitter
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