For awhile, i had a Senna alata plant which is a host for the Sulphur butterflies. A couple of years ago i spotted this caterpillar on the flower at the very top of the bush for all the predators to see. It appeared to be a mature caterpillar maybe a few days from wanting to pupate. The predators were active and seemed to be eating all the caterpillars before they had a chance to pupate and i wanted to save this one at least. The predators do not come into the patio area so i decided to keep it outside rather than take it into the house. Many Sulphur caterpillars come in 2 colors...mostly yellow, like the one below, and mostly green. The yellow ones feed on the yellow flowers and the green ones feed on the leaves. I lined an over-sized margarita glass with a cotton cloth and daily brought the caterpillar fresh yellow blossoms to eat. I situated a bamboo stick close to the glass in the hopes that the caterpillar would use it for a place to pupate and make its chrysalis which it did. When the caterpillar was ready to pupate, i brought the caterpillar, already stuck to the stick, into the house for safety reasons and when it was ready to eclose, i took it back out to the patio. I wasn't sure exactly what species of Sulphur it was, but i was hoping to find out: The caterpillar is trying out its bamboo stick The pupa preparing to create its chrysalis The chrysalis The newly eclosed Orange-barred Sulphur back on the patio waiting for the wings to be flight ready Wings ready for flight...what a happy site
Amazing! And very relaxing to watch also! OK, I have an advice - Why not position a camera and program it to take time-lapse pictures, which you can then put together in a video on YouTube for all to see!
I really enjoyed your series of photographs. I've never been witness to the whole process that caterpillars go through to become butterflies before. I'm so glad you rescued yours so that we could all see the different stages. Thank you.
S-H that is a good idea, but i have a couple of problems with it. First, dozens of people have posted real time videos and time lapse videos already on utube of butterflies eclosing. The real time photos only show a small portion of the process that needs to be completed between leaving the chrysalis and being ready to fly and so give a distorted view. The time lapse also shows a distorted view because things do not happen that fast and are not always easy. It could be an hour before a butterfly is ready to fly, and until it is ready to fly, the butterfly is a sitting duck for any predator passing by. I did look recently for a video to post at GS, but none of the ones that i saw were representative of the process. For time-lapse flower seeds coming up to blossoming, most of us have some idea of the time involved and time lapse is great. But most people looking on utube for a video of a butterfly emerging, have never seen a live emergence before and so don't have that reality check when looking at time-lapse. I didn't find anything that i would want to show on the Stew. Dinu's presentation of "Butterfly eclosing -- Plain Tiger" (in still photos), is, i think, the next best thing to being there because he showed lots of detail in his photos. This is why you won't find me offering up a video of a butterfly eclosing but i appreciate the idea. Caterpillars and Butterflies are some of the most serene and tranquil critters that i know which is pretty amazing considering just about everything else on earth wants to eat them. A caterpillar sleeping in the mottled sun after eating most of the night is one of the most peaceful scenes and enables an observer to feel the tranquility of it flowing through them. Also, did you know that there is "caterpillar time"? In addition to Coordinated Universal Time. Greenwich Mean Time, overtime, double-time, half time...there is caterpillar time. They definitely run on their own time. They also have to work very hard, during the time they are caterpillars, they have to shed their entire skins generally between 4-5 times. It is really hard work and if it isn't done properly, they will die. You try it...you will see it is no walk in the park, and don't forget it includes your face and antennae They also work very hard making their chrysalises, wiggling and thrashing about and pulling up silk from their insides, they may have to stop and take a rest 2 or 3 times before their chrysalis is complete. There are videos of caterpillars making their chrysalises also on utube.
Simply amazing camouflage on the chrysalis. It even had me fooled! One would have to wonder how the eventual yellow colour suited it in the natural habitat seeing as though it's very visible to predators. Great shots as always Bev
Oh, that's funny Frank, i didn't know we had a paparazzi smiley but now i see it is in Set 3. I'll have to visit set 3 more often. Do you mean to say how the color of the caterpillar, being yellow, was beneficial in the natural environment because it was so visible to predators? This yellow caterpillar has very good camouflage on the Senna plants while it is eating the yellow flowers. It really does blend in very well but i found this particular large caterpillar smack dab on top like some kind of Christmas tree ornament when it should have been hiding and eating lower on the 10' (3m) tall plant. At any rate the predators have a lot of years of practice finding food and are aware of all the tricks. Let me know if i have misunderstood your comment.
You understood perfectly Bev. It was I who had the misunderstanding unfortunately. I overlooked the Senna alata plant you mentioned in your original post and upon viewing its flower colour via an image search, my question was answered The colour is a near perfect match!!
http://dinusyarden.blogspot.in/2013/11/blue-tiger-caterpillar-pupates.html This is my blogpost on how I captured a Plain Tiger butterfly 'pupated'. In this, I have linked my YT video - actually it is a set of time-lapse images taken in quick succession. @S-H too may like this. http://dinusyarden.blogspot.in/2013/11/plain-tiger-butterfly-eclosion.html This is the next post - see how the butterfly emerges. See the link I gave IN my blog - YT. I had a confusion with the chrysalis - whether it was of a Blue Tiger or a Plain Tiger. It was in fact of a Plain Tiger. vitrsna... that is a lovely Sulphur! Superb chrysalis.
