The gulf fritillary chrysalis can sometimes be hard to spot, as they blend in with their surroundings. We have four that crawled a fair distance from its host plant to the side of our house.

The female of a gulf fritillary will lay one egg at a time either on or near the host plant, corky stem passion vine or maypop passion vine. Anywhere from three to five days later the caterpillar will emerge, eating the shell before continuing onto the leaves. The caterpillar will continue to eat for up to 16 days.

The chrysalis begins by the caterpillar attaching the rear of itself with a silk white thread, which can be seen in the photo. As the caterpillar makes small muscle contractions it sheds its skin and slowly forms the chrysalis. The chrysalis will harden and the butterfly will emerge anywhere from 11 to 21 days later.