Eclosion of lime butterfly

This is the final part of my 4 parts on Lime butterfly. You can read about my previous post here : Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3.

Once the pupa turn to this colour, is the sign that the eclosion is near and will happen within the next24 hours.

The video below show the eclosion process.

A newly eclosed butterfly waiting to start the new generation,

Love and Hate of the Beautiful Pest - Lime Butterfly pupation (Pt 3)

 This is the continuation of my previous post on Lime butterfly. You may read them at : Part 1 and Part 2

After pupation, Lime butterflies' pupa can take the form of green or brown colour.

Pupa in the form of brown

and pupa in the form of green colour.

Pupation captured in video.

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.  
 

Love and Hate of the Beautiful Pest - Lime Butterfly (Pt 1)

Like many things in life, a love and hate of something is mostly about perspective and really depend on individual choice. Same goes to Lime butterfly (Papilio demoleus). Is a beauty for those who see it as a beautiful elegant butterfly and yet a pest to those who plant lime tree as ornamental plants or as crops.

I enjoy taking butterfly photos and always ask my family member not to remove any caterpillars that they been complaining biting away the beautiful lime tree. But most of the time, the caterpillars are pick up by birds before they able to turn to butterfly. So, I try a new approach that able to continue to let the population of butterfly grow without being predated before the caterpillars turn to butterfly. To do so, I will keep and feed the caterpillars indoor in a tank and release them when they turn to butterfly.

Is easier to pick them after they hatch from the egg. You may search the underside of the young leaves of the newly laid egg after sighting of butterfly around your lime tree. The egg is about only 1mm in diameter. Butterfly are very picky about their host plant, so you will only have Lime butterfly visit your lime tree and not other butterflies.

After 2 to 3 days, the egg will turn to brown colour and the caterpillar is ready to eat their way out of the egg shell. 

This newly hatched caterpillar have a rather spiky look with yellowing brown colour.

From now, the caterpillar will go through 5 instars before turning to pupa and butterfly. They will go through moulting each time before entering next instar. 

During 2nd instar, is still with the spiky appearance and looks like a bird droppings from top.

The caterpillar will have less spiky appearance during 3rd instar. 

During 4th instar, the caterpillar still looks like a bird drooping but is now less spiky and more silky.

During 5th instar, the smooth appearance totally different from the last 4 instars. The size now reaching  42mm is about 14X from their 1st instar. 

After about 4 days in the 5th instar, the caterpillar will prepare themselves to become a pre-pupatory larva.

The caterpillar will secure themselves with silk pad at their cremaster (the tail section) and further support by silk girdle over their thorax and stay dormant. To be continued...

Butterfly Watching @ Alexandra Hospital

Is Sunday again.... have not been going to Alexandra Hospital for a while. The last time I went was about a year ago for a workshop although I passby AH almost everyday on the way to my work place.

I arrived about 8am and there are aleady about 15 people ready with their camera and all kind of gadgets chasing butterfly. Although the park is under a major upgrading, it did not stop the butterflies from coming here to breed and embrace the park.

This is a beautiful Glassy Tiger. However, I'm not sure if this is a Blue Glassy or Dark Glassy.

Glassy Tiger usually seen on a slow graceful and unhurried flight, I can't help but to take more shots.

Ha ha...again, I can't tell which is 3 rings or which is 5 rings. I'm totally new about butterflies... 'paiseh'

This black butterfly (Blue Helen) looks like a 'wau' a kind of kite in Malaysia. Understand that this is a migrant species. Mmmm.... no wonder the shape really looks like a wau.

Could this be a Malayan Bush Brown?

Another 2 that I don't know their id.....

Been waited for hours.... this butterfly just don't stay still :-( I end up took this picture while she is flying. Is either a Common Rose or a Great Helen.

Managed to capture this beautiful butterfly that normally stay around the tree canopy.... a Painted Jezebel.

Well, you will not just lok at the butterfly... this skink wanted to have some exposures too.

This grasshopper is about 9cm in length! Wow...

Terrapin swimming gracefully in this pond..

This poster list down all the birds that been sighted here in the hospital's compound.

Well, this probably is one of the only hospital in Singapore that host so many different kind of animals.