Hey guys, I found two critters that I thought would make for a fun winter project. I was mucking around in the yard harvesting the last of the summer's parsley when I found Jesús and Madea:
Actually I have no idea as to the sex. They're both Eastern Black Swallowtails (Papilio polyxenes) and they were munching down on the parsley, a Papilio favorite. So I took a few parsley stalks along with the ones they were on and put them in a big jar with some moist dirt for a substrate (to keep the parsley alive). Neither caterpillar were moving at all so I assumed they were pupating. In fact, they're not quite there yet. They are possibly 3rd instar, most likely they are fully grown and will pupate soon. Today, I found the parsley totally defoliated and the substrate was littered with their castings:
Big green poo
The parsley you see in the picture is stuff I added this morning. Also, Madea was NOT close to 4cm when I first found them:
Jesús, is about the same size now as he was when I found them (~2.5cm). I think Madea got plump hogging all the parsley and not sharing any with Jesús, although as I type, Jesús appears to be chowing down heartily on a bare stem.
Caterpillar chew marks
Handling the jar apparently agitated Jesús a little and here he is in the process of retracting his osmeterium. At the same time, he filled the jar with a distinct (though not, in my opinion, entirely offensive) smell.
I'll tried poking him with a paintbrush to get him to stick it out again so I could get a better picture, but he didn't seem to mind the paintbrush lol. I'll try again later on.
And here they are, Jesús and Madea, enjoying a romantic brunch. Jesús came down to join Madea working on that clump of young parsley leaves and you can see here how fast they're eating it.
As of this upload, there is nothing but a bare stalk there, which Jesús is chewing on while Madea is off to find more leaves. Dang, they eat fast.
More to come,
Tomato
EDIT: Ps, does anyone know if these guys require autumn temperatures in order to pupate or will they do it at indoor temperature? Can warm indoor temperatures harm the chrysalis?
Actually I have no idea as to the sex. They're both Eastern Black Swallowtails (Papilio polyxenes) and they were munching down on the parsley, a Papilio favorite. So I took a few parsley stalks along with the ones they were on and put them in a big jar with some moist dirt for a substrate (to keep the parsley alive). Neither caterpillar were moving at all so I assumed they were pupating. In fact, they're not quite there yet. They are possibly 3rd instar, most likely they are fully grown and will pupate soon. Today, I found the parsley totally defoliated and the substrate was littered with their castings:
Big green poo
The parsley you see in the picture is stuff I added this morning. Also, Madea was NOT close to 4cm when I first found them:
Jesús, is about the same size now as he was when I found them (~2.5cm). I think Madea got plump hogging all the parsley and not sharing any with Jesús, although as I type, Jesús appears to be chowing down heartily on a bare stem.
Caterpillar chew marks
Handling the jar apparently agitated Jesús a little and here he is in the process of retracting his osmeterium. At the same time, he filled the jar with a distinct (though not, in my opinion, entirely offensive) smell.
I'll tried poking him with a paintbrush to get him to stick it out again so I could get a better picture, but he didn't seem to mind the paintbrush lol. I'll try again later on.
And here they are, Jesús and Madea, enjoying a romantic brunch. Jesús came down to join Madea working on that clump of young parsley leaves and you can see here how fast they're eating it.
As of this upload, there is nothing but a bare stalk there, which Jesús is chewing on while Madea is off to find more leaves. Dang, they eat fast.
More to come,
Tomato
EDIT: Ps, does anyone know if these guys require autumn temperatures in order to pupate or will they do it at indoor temperature? Can warm indoor temperatures harm the chrysalis?
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