They lose there heads you no (pic)

gez · #1 (**permalink**) 09-07-2009, 06:30 PM

Hi all
last week i found some peacock caterpillars close to home, And took some to bring on to butterflies for my youngest daughter
Over the last 24hrs they have began to change very quickly i may add to form the pupa or chrysalid
now the best bit. in the tank i saw a few heads on the base!!! & i had no idea what was going on today i came from work had a look asap & there is a pupa formed with the head still hanging only just.!!! this i find one of the most amazing things ive ever seen.!

charlieb · #2 (**permalink**) 09-07-2009, 07:07 PM

The head you see is the last larval skin before the caterpillar turns into a pupa.

As a caterpillar grows it has to shed it's skin in order to get bigger. The new skin forms underneath the old, but in the case of the last stage before the caterpillar pupates, the skin is the pupal cocoon.

gez · #3 (**permalink**) 10-07-2009, 06:32 PM

I watched this process this morning it took approx 1/2 hr from the skin spitting to coming of altogether. i found it amazing to watch! so now i have 11 pupa, not sure how long before the butterfly emerge? gez

Jonners · #4 (**permalink**) 10-07-2009, 06:43 PM

Nature, and the wonder of it, becomes so much more real when we see and experience it first hand. I hope your daughter enjoys seeing the transformation too. It must have been fascinating to watch. We had some drinker moths a couple of years back, and they were only in their cocoons for a few weeks, but I don't know about Peacocks. It'll be great to see them hatch though. Keep us posted. Oh, and great picture, thanks for that