Love and Hate of the Beautiful Pest - Lime Butterfly (Pt 2)

After the 5th instar , the caterpillar will prepare themselves to become a pre-pupatory larva.

The caterpillar will first apply their silk to make a silk pad in order to secure themselves at their cremaster (the tail section).

They are further support by silk girdle over their thorax and stay dormant.

After about a day, the caterpillar will go through the pupation.

A pair of cephalic horns can be seen at this stage after removing their green caterpillar moult.

The moult that left behind after the pupation.

The pupation will continue and the dorsal thoracic hump can be seen and bend down.

The pupa can be in either green or brown form.

After about 8-9 days of development, the pupa will turn black with yellow stripes. This is actually the butterfly appearance under the almost transparent case. When this happened, the beautiful will eclose the next day.

A beautiful newly eclosed butterfly will first hang themselves to fully  extend their wing and for them to dry up before they take their first flight. Well, this is a rather project to start especially during this pandemic period when you have more time at home.