The Painted Lady Butterfly goes through
four stages called Metamorphosis.
Metamorphosis is the life changes of the butterfly |
photos of the egg and caterpillar on the pic above
are not my photos,but belong to an educational page I found
somewhere on the internet.
The rest of the photos on my page
do belong to me and photographed by me |
The first stage are the greenish color eggs
only a pin head size
that the female butterfly lays
on a certain plant like Thistle for the caterpillar to eat
when it emerges from the egg in 3 to 5 days.
When I got my kit,there were no eggs.But a container
of live caterpillars as shown below.
Inside the container below, there is food called Malva,
along with some vitamins added. |
Stage 2(the larva)Once the caterpillar emerges from its egg,
it is in the larva stage
The caterpillar will eat nonstop for 5 to 10 days.
It is black to purple with yellow-green stripes.
It has long spines on each segment
and it builds a silky webbed nest as it feeds.
The caterpillar grows very quickly as it eats,
Its skin gets tighter.
soon it will shed this tight skin and new skin
that is underneath will appear.
this is called "molting".
The larva will molt about 4 times. |
Stage 3.(the pupa)
When the caterpillar has grown
to the right size, and it stops eating,
it climbs to the top of the container,
spins a little knob of silk onto the filter paper
that is just under the lid and attach's
its rear end firmly to the knob.
The larva hangs head down and assumes a J shape.
Indicating that pupation is only a few hours away.
Below,notice the J shaped larva inside the container to the right
Photo below |
This last molt happens quickly
Soon the caterpillar's skin splits open
from head to abdomen
Very interesting to watch
because now you can see
a hard shell forming over the last molt of the pupa(caterpillar).
This shell is called the chrysalis.
Photo Below |
When the shell completes coverage of the pupa,
The pupa snuggles inside the chrysalis.
It is now time to move the chrysalis to the new home
that came with your kit.
being very careful removing
the paper at the top of the container with them on it.
follow the directions that the kit came with.
Photo of the pupa inside the chrysais
Below. |
For a week to ten days,inside the chrysalis,
the pupa undergoes dramatic physical
and biochemical transformations. |
The chrysalis gradually darkens until it is dark grey-brown
and the orange color of the wings starts to show through.
This is when you can expect the adult
to emerge,which happens quickly.
Be sure to be watchfull at this time.
I'm sorry to say I had missed this wonderful event.
What happened to me was I had been on vacation
and had'nt put the pupa into the home I had set up.
as I thought I had plenty of time to do that
When I got home I checked the container,
I could see that the chrysalis had darkened
and I could make out some of the parts of the caterpillar.
so I didnt dare move it.
The next day I checked it again
and the caterpillars Chrysails had already split. |
The butterfly had dropped down
into the bottom of the container
and its wings were already dried.
She looked just fine
But I needed to get her out of the container
to her home so she could sip the nectar from the flowers
I took from the garden the same day.
Below is the container showing the butterfly and the empty chrylais. |
So of course I had missed this whole event as told here
The Chrysalis shell splits near the bottom(head end)
and the butterfly reaches out with its legs
and grasps the outside of the chrysalis.
The head comes out and then the abdomen
and wings are pulled free of the chrysalis shell
The emergence takes a minute or less. |
The fresh new butterfly clings to the chrysalis shell
with its soft,crumpled wings hanging down.
Over the next hour or two,
the abdomen pulses as it pumps fluid
into the veins of the wings,expanding them
to their fully extended shape.
During this time,the butterfly ejects a splat of red liquid.
This is only a waste fluid that the butterfly unloads
as it prepares for its new life.
In three to four hours,
the butterfly takes wing as a flying insect. |
The butterfly in my continer had done all that
and needed to be put into her new home
so I took the top off the container
and laid the container with the new butterfly in it
on the floor of the new home.Photo below. | |
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Grab a Cup of Tea
