Wakey, wakey!

 A month ago, I discovered four caterpillars eating my nasturtium leaves. I put them in a jar with more leaves, and they all pupated. I posted the story and their photos on September 2, "Sleepy Time".

I put their jar outside in a protected corner. A couple of weeks later, I checked the jar and found three butterflies just hatched, drying out their wings.

Cabbage whites, Pieris rapae. Butterfly and empty chrysalis.

I love those spotty green eyes!

All dried out and exploring my kitchen.

An empty chrysalis. The butterfly crawled out of that hole in the front.

And checking out my window. The males have one spot in the centre of their forewings, the females have two.

Once they had dried out their wings and had settled down, I captured them one by one and carried them outside. I found it interesting that each one I released immediately flew to land on my silvery-grey car, the colour of our sea and sky on cool days. After a brief pause, they flew up and away, towards the garden. They had only a few warmish days in which to find a mate and lay their eggs.

From the day they pupated, October 31, to the day they eclosed, the 18th of September, makes 19 days in the chrysalis stage. The last time I housed a chrysalis, it took 3 weeks.

The fourth chrysalis looked ok, but didn't hatch. I gave it more time, but it is still green and silent. Could be something was wrong with it, but could be that it is on a fall timetable and will wait until spring. I've kept it safe, just in case.

Chrysalis # 4. Looks fine, but is inert.

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Hace un mes descubrí cuatro orugas comiendo las hojas de mis capuchinas. Las metí en un frasco y tres dias más tarde, formaron crisálidas. Puse el frasco afuera en un sitio protegido. Esto fue el 31 de octubre.

El 18 de septiembre al observar el frasco, encontré tres mariposas "blanquitas de la col", o sea Pieris rapae. Apenas habían salido de sus crisálidas; todavía estaban secando las alas.

1. Fotos: una mariposa y la crisálida de donde salió.
2. Otra. Me encantan esos ojos verdes con sus puntos negros.
3. Esta ya tiene las alas secas y está explorando mi cocina.
4. Una crisálida vacía. La mariposa salió por la abertura hacia la cabeza de la crisálida.
5. Dos mariposas en mi ventana. Los machos tienen una mancha negra en medio de la ala anterior; las hembras tienen dos.

Cuando ya estaban listas, las capturé una por una, y las llevé afuera. Algo interesante fue que cada una, al hallarse libre, se fue directamente a descansar sobre mi coche, que es de un color gris plateado, el color de cielo y del oceano aquí en los dias templados. Luego se levantaron y volaron hacia el jardín. Solamente les quedaban algunos pocos dias templado en que encontrar su pareja y poner sus huevos.

Desde el dia en que formaron las crisálidas hasta el dia en que salieron, sumaron 19 dias. La última vez que tenía en casa una crisálida tomó tres semanas.

La cuarta crisálida parecía estar bien, pero no eclosionó. La guardé otras dos semanas, y nada. O es que le faltó algo, o tal vez piensa que es otoño y hay que esperar hasta la primavera. La tengo guardada por si acaso.

Foto # 6: la crisálida que no eclosionó.

Sleepy time

 I found four cabbage white caterpillars eating my nasturtium leaves.

Looking sleepy, fat and happy.

I collected the half-eaten leaves, and rather than dumping them in the yard waste bag, I put them in a pint jar, where the caterpillars ate more leaves, producing an impressive amount of caterpillar poop. And then, on the third day, they all migrated to the top of the jar and turned into chrysalises.

Cabbage white chrysalis, Pieris rapae, tied to the bottom of the lid. 

And on the rim of the jar. Anchored with a few fragile-looking silk threads.

The last time I had a chrysalis in a jar, the butterfly emerged after only three weeks. That would be the summer generation. Those that pupate in the fall will overwinter in this state, and emerge in the spring.

It's still warm now, though the nights are cold. I'll store this jar outside in a protected spot.

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Encontré cuatro orugas de la mariposa blanquita de la col, Pieris rapae, comiéndose las hojas de mis capuchinas. En vez de tirar las hojas dañadas al recyclaje del jardín, las puse en un frasco con tapa.

Las orugas sigieron comiendo, produciendo una cantidad de excremento de oruga. Y al tercer dia, las cuatro subieron a la orilla superior del frasco, y formaron crisálidas.

Fotos: una oruga, y dos crisálidas.

La última vez que tuve una crisálida en casa, la mariposa salió a las tres semanas. Era parte de la generación del verano. Las mariposas de esta especie que forman sus pupas en el otoño pasan el invierno como crisálida, para emerger como mariposa en la primavera.

Todavía hace algo de calor en el dia, pero las noches son frías, ahora al principio de septiembre. Guardaré este frasco afuera en un lugar protegido.

The 'fly who came in from the cold

Such fun I've been having with one little critter!

It started 6 weeks ago, with a yodelling caterpillar. At the end of September, he lived, eating nasturtiums, on my desk for a few days, then he built himself a hammock and turned into a chrysalis. I set him outside in a glass case by the door, and kept an eye on him. The chrysalis gradually lost its bright green colour, fading to a yellowy white. Nothing else seemed to be happening, but of course it was, invisibly; all that rebuilding from the inside out.

I almost missed the next act; I was too late for the first scene. I checked his cage just after breakfast last Thursday, and there he was, out of the chrysalis. Barely out. His wings were still wrinkled, and he was slowly unfolding his legs.

I posted a photo of those legs, the only ones stretched out at the moment. (You commenters are pretty good; you knew it was a butterfly, just not what species.)

9:33 AM, on the inside of the glass case. Three legs

He seemed to discover more legs, as he untangled himself.

9:34 AM Six legs. Cabbage white butterfly, mostly yellow.

9:36 AM

While he stretched, I looked at the empty chrysalis:

The head end is down; the chrysalis is split from the "beak" to the "waist".

It was too cold outside, just above freezing. I left him there for a few hours, but he didn't want to move, so I brought him in and he perked up right away.

A warm corner on a vase by a light.

On a glass bottle.

On the back door. No, he didn't want to go out. I asked.

Next day, on the kitchen floor.

He was a male, as shown by the one black spot on his forewing, and should have been looking for a mate. But it was miserably cold out there, and his friends weren't flying, so I let him stay at home in the warmth. Unfortunately, a spider finally got him. Sometimes I could wish that spiders were vegetarian.

Beak and fins and drying paint

On a drying maple leaf just outside my door, my latest caterpillar sleeps in his half-inch chrysalis. Depending on the weather, he'll be there over the winter. I'll keep an eye on him, although it is something like watching paint dry.

Unless I start thinking about what is going on inside.

I always find this hard to imagine; a living thing takes all his working parts, dissolves them into a soup, and rebuilds them into something different. Without dying in the process.

That's some major self-surgery!

So once the caterpillar is tied down safely, he gets right to work; no time to lose. Here's the schedule for this little critter:

10 AM - start weaving the sling.
11:40 - sling is done.
11:40 to 2:00 - shake, shimmy and squirm to remove old skin.
2:30 PM - Old skin and hairs gone, shape changed (fins and beak added, feet gone), wing veins forming and visible.

2:30 PM

7:30 PM - Dots and colouring added. Wing veins complete.

Here you can see the veins of two wings, the forewings with dots along the vein, and the hind wings, shorter and underneath the first.

The caterpillar's mouth was set up for chewing leaves. When he is a butterfly, he will be drinking from a straw, instead. So the whole head has to be rebuilt. The new yellow and brown beak (almost like a bird's beak, except that it doesn't open) is the beginnings of the new mouthparts. He will also have to build new antennae; as a caterpillar, his antennae were tiny hairs.

He has "fins"now, like a shark's dorsal and pectoral fins. I don't know what function they may have; they will be left behind when the new butterfly emerges.

Beak to tail, day 6.

At some point in his development, the new legs will also be visible through the casing. Not yet; I couldn't find them today, even with a bright light shining through.

And the day before he emerges, the black dot on the forewings (two if he's a female), the brand-new butterfly feathers, will show up.

Better than watching paint.

Making a caterpillar hammock

Cabbage white butterflies go through several generations each year. In warm weather, a complete cycle takes from one to two months. Over the winter, though, the caterpillar goes dormant in his chrysalis, stuck to a leaf or twig. A three-point attachment is all that holds him, through rain, snow, wind, and ice storms. And through all the shaking and jerking about he goes through as he sheds his old skin. There's a spot of glue at the tip of his tail, and a fragile-looking thread glued to the leaf on either side, and strung over his back. That seems to be enough.

Day-old chrysalis. The thread is visible across his mid-section.

I've been wondering how the caterpillar manages to tie a thread behind his own back, and managed to catch my latest visitor demonstrating the technique.

First, he selects his leaf. He was eating nasturtiums, but moved to maple for the winter.

He bends over backwards, and turns to one side.

Glues a strand of silk to the leaf on his left,

Swings back, stretching at right angles to his leaf,

continues the swing

to the right side,

and glues the thread down.

He repeated this action about a dozen times, then returned to his upright position and started the transformation.

Here he is, on video, in real time. It's a painstakingly slow process.


If you watch this at full size, it's easy to see the thread stretching over his back.

But he says, in the immortal words of the Cat in the Hat, "That's not all I can do!" More tomorrow.

Looks like January is Moth Month

Back in October, as some of you may remember, I photographed a Cabbage White butterfly caterpillar turning into a chrysalis, and blogged about it here.

The adult butterfly should hatch sometime in the spring. One site I found suggested it may be as early as February. So it is time I started monitoring more closely.

I have had it outside, in a semi-sheltered location, still in the big salad bowl where it anchored itself on the lid, and with a couple of layers of open-weave cloth over it to keep out predators, but allow air circulation.


Here it is, as I last photographed it, at the end of September. It is anchored at the tail end (where the discarded skin is) and with a thread around the middle, and hanging upside down (judging by the position of the caterpillar when the transformation started).

I brought it inside tonight. Fingers crossed: hoping I would find it still alive and growing. I photographed it quickly, not wanting to expose it to a warm lamp any more than was necessary, bundled it up again, and put it back outside.

Here's what I found.


There are a few changes. It is no longer attached by the tail, but is swinging free on the thread around the waist, right side up. The old skin is still there, but no longer tied to the chrysalis.

It seems to me that the markings along the wings are more pronounced, and the bulges that I still think may be eyes are rounder and have a rim on one side.

Floating free as it is, I got a first look at the belly.


Some kind of apparatus there. Legs? Antennae? Mouth parts? Time will tell. The belly was tight against the lid in the fall, so I don't know whether it has changed since then.

And back to waiting again. I hope I have done it no damage; I figure the disturbance was no more than what would have been normal on the underside of a leaf in a bit of a wind.

We'll see.

Paint drying. For Jamon

... You asked for it: here it is. The chrysalis, as it hangs today.



Compare to a week ago:



Paint drying, it is.

I have moved it, plastic container and all, to a safe spot outside; he wasn't intended to spend the winter indoors.

Update on the "Astounding!" caterpillar

Well, that was quick! I didn't even get around to posting my photos on BugGuide, but we have an ID for yesterday's caterpillar. A local naturalist left a comment on that post, with a link. Thanks!

What I have is a Cabbage White butterfly, Pieris rapae. The link answers a few of my questions:

1. It has settled in for the duration; they hibernate over the winter, hatching out in early spring.
2. The reason it wouldn't eat any of the veg. I gave it was that I gave it no brassicas, except for the hedge mustard I found it on. I should have tried cabbage out of my fridge.
   
3. I won't be able to tell if it is male or female until it hatches. Males have one spot on each wing, females have two.

And it brings up another question: why does Wikipedia say that hedge mustard, Sisymbrium officinale, is not a brassica, while another site says that it is? (A UK site says,

Cultivated brassicas are the primary foodplants including cabbages, and Nasturtium (Tropaeoleum majus). Wild crucifers such as Wild Cabbage (Brassica oleracea), Charlock (Sinapis arvensis), Hedge Mustard (Sisymbrium officinale), Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata), Hoary Cress (Lepidium draba), and Wild Mignonette (Reseda lutea) are also used to a lesser degree.)

Hedge mustard as I found it.

And from a British site: same plant.