The Autumn Leaf Butterfly - changing from caterpillar, to chrysallis, to butterfly
October 20th 2010 04:06
The Autumn Leaf Butterfly (Doleschallia bisaltide).
I recently found some caterpillars chomping their way through the leaves on some bushes where we live (Bishan / Ang Mo Kio area of Singapore). I collected a few, looked after them, and was rewarded by witnessing them change into chrysalises, and then into butterflies.
We fed them leaves from the bushes on which we found the caterpillars.
Not long after we collected our caterpillars, the gardeners came and brutally trimmed the bushes where we had found them - after the gardeners had finished, all the remaining caterpillars (and there had been many) were gone.
The caterpillars grew till they were about 7 or 8 cm long. Then eventually, each caterpillar climbed to the highest point it could find and attached itself, tail end, by spinning some find thread, and hung upside down. The caterpilars all chose the evening to attach themselves, and hung there, upside down, overnight. While hanging, the caterpillars curled themselves around, as in the photo below, and seemed to scrunch up like an accordian, shortening in length and filling out width-ways.
In the morning, the caterpillars shed their skins. They all wriggled violently during this process, as the skin came off, making it very difficult to photograph, but this series of photo's gives you an idea of the process.
The skin fell off, discarded, leaving a raw-looking, wriggling mass (the chrysallis) hanging.
Over the next day or so, the covering of the chrysallis hardened and darkened.
About one week later, the colour of the chrysallis darkened, and the next morning there was a butterfly.
We let the butterflies go, back near the bushes where we found the caterpillars.
More information on the Autumn Leaf Butterfly (Doleschallia bisaltide) can be found on these web sites:
Butterfly Circle
Wikipedia
Brisbane Insects
Butterfly House
I recently found some caterpillars chomping their way through the leaves on some bushes where we live (Bishan / Ang Mo Kio area of Singapore). I collected a few, looked after them, and was rewarded by witnessing them change into chrysalises, and then into butterflies.
We fed them leaves from the bushes on which we found the caterpillars.
Not long after we collected our caterpillars, the gardeners came and brutally trimmed the bushes where we had found them - after the gardeners had finished, all the remaining caterpillars (and there had been many) were gone.
The caterpillar of the Autumn Leaf Butterfly
The caterpillars grew till they were about 7 or 8 cm long. Then eventually, each caterpillar climbed to the highest point it could find and attached itself, tail end, by spinning some find thread, and hung upside down. The caterpilars all chose the evening to attach themselves, and hung there, upside down, overnight. While hanging, the caterpillars curled themselves around, as in the photo below, and seemed to scrunch up like an accordian, shortening in length and filling out width-ways.
In the morning, the caterpillars shed their skins. They all wriggled violently during this process, as the skin came off, making it very difficult to photograph, but this series of photo's gives you an idea of the process.
The skin fell off, discarded, leaving a raw-looking, wriggling mass (the chrysallis) hanging.
The Discarded Skin
Over the next day or so, the covering of the chrysallis hardened and darkened.
About one week later, the colour of the chrysallis darkened, and the next morning there was a butterfly.
We let the butterflies go, back near the bushes where we found the caterpillars.
More information on the Autumn Leaf Butterfly (Doleschallia bisaltide) can be found on these web sites:
Butterfly Circle
Wikipedia
Brisbane Insects
Butterfly House
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