|
Anise Swallowtail Caterpillars
updated: Sep 22, 2012, 5:58 PM
By Edhat Subscriber
For my fellow nature lovers in Edhat land, we were thrilled to find three
Anise Swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon) butterfly caterpillars on our anise
plants last Saturday. The photo of the one that's mostly black with a white
stripe around its middle was taken that day, when we first found them.
Today, only a week later, two of the caterpillars are fat and green and will
probably crawl off to spin within another day or two. The other, younger one
(white, black, and orange) is probably about two or three days behind the
others.
To protect them from predators, they're now living indoors, in the small
blue vase in the fourth photo (flashlight is for scale). The nice thing
about Anise Swallowtail caterpillars is that they do not stray; they stay on
the anise plants until they crawl off to spin, so keeping them indoors like
this is very easy.
Send this picture as a postcard
# # # #
Send this picture as a postcard
# # # #
Send this picture as a postcard
# # # #
Send this picture as a postcard
# # # #
4 comments on this article. Read/Add
# # # #
|
