Even as late as mid-September, monarch butterflies are depositing eggs on milkweed in Eastern Iowa. If Iowa’s weather cooperates, those eggs will hatch in about four days to become tiny larvae, or caterpillars, which feast on the milkweed for two weeks before transforming into a chrysalis. More: Cicada emergence For advocates who raise monarchs indoors, […]
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Tag: chrysalis
Photos: Proud mama lets her butterfly ch...
Like any proud new mom, I took lots of photos, but time with my “baby” was fleeting. See the black swallowtail in chrysalis stage. I was told that butterflies generally emerge from their chrysalis in the morning, so once I had found a swallowtail caterpillar and brought it, in chrysalis stage, onto my back porch, […]
Swallowtail update: so then this happene...
Just one day after posting about my backyard buddy, the black swallowtail caterpillar stopped moving. Hours later, it formed a silken “harness” and began its metamorphosis on the way to becoming a butterfly by forming a chrysalis. Related: How to tell apart swallowtail and monarch caterpillars I understood that swallowtails like to wander far from […]