It’s interesting to see just how far a caterpillar will crawl to find its final destination for a chrysalis. This polydamas swallowtail chrysalis is quite far from its host plant creating a bit of a shock when I spotted it on my daughter’s playground. It also surprised me the chrysalis was not brown to match the wood it created its chrysalis upon.
I have to say part of the fun of having a butterfly garden is the hunt of finding where the caterpillars end up.
A few of the polydamas swallowtail caterpillars were in their molting process on the Dutchman pipe this morning. They will most likely consume their exoskeleton to conserve its nutrients.
These guys will grow up to 2.1″ in length and typically take 19 to 24 days to go through their four instars. There are definitely a few that are nearing that final stage before chrysalis.
There are three sections of a caterpillars body, of course, with the first being the hard head, which includes its mouth on the lower side. The caterpillar has two jaws, which move from side to side, and includes either teeth, or blades, to cut, eat, through the leaves. On quite a few occasions, if you stop and listen closely, you can hear the caterpillars munching on the leaves.
The caterpillars found in the garden today are of various different sizes and species. I am sure there are more that we just did not find.
In order for a caterpillar to grow, it molts, which I read can take a day or two for the entire process to be completed. It’s fascinating to watch, if you ever have the opportunity to do so. The molting process takes place on several occasions, as the caterpillar has to shed its skin, so it can continue to eat and grow to the desired length. When a caterpillar begins to molt, it will create a silk pad, while making sure its prolegs are firmly attached. I find it interesting that the caterpillar will swallow air to enlarge itself, before its cuticle splits along the thorax, so it can wiggle out of the old skin.
The polydamas swallowtail caterpillars have certainly been busy in the garden eating the Dutchman pipe almost down to sticks, and traveling long distances to find areas to make its chrysalis.
The mature caterpillars can reach 2.1 inches in length before it starts its chrysalis. They remain in the caterpillar stage, four different instars, from 19 to 24 days to reach that desired length.
Depending on where they make their chrysalis it will resemble either a green, or brown leaf, as pictured above. We also have chrysalis in the butterfly house that are either on branches or the sides of the house that are brown in color mimicking that dead leaf.
The polydamas swallowtail butterfly typically emerges from its chrysalis at about 18 days.
As always, check out my page on polydamas swallowtails: https://bit.ly/3MHVXnb.
We had another successful polydamas, gold rim, swallowtail, hatch in our butterfly house this morning. Number 16. We have two more chrysalis in the butterfly house and about eight caterpillars of this species and TONS more in our garden.
Their wing span ranges from 9.2 to 11.6 c.m. and the female is larger than the male. Fun fact from the University of Florida: the male has scent scales hidden on the upper surface of the hind wing in folds.
A true beauty.
Check out: https://bit.ly/3zcSDO6, for additional information about the life cycle of the polydamus swallowtail.