Fritillary Frolics

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The Gulf Fritillary that came through laying eggs a couple of months ago (http://forums.steves-digicams.com/fo...ght=fritillary ) begat a swarm of progeny, making it possible to document some of the events.

1) Adult female (see the photo of the maleadded at the bottom of this page)

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2) Mating and egg-laying

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3) Caterpillars

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4) Transformation into chrysalis

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5) Maturation and emergence. The orange wings are visible through the covering of the wing pads; the bands which are visible on the forewing indicate that the butterfly will be a female (femalse have dark bands on therear edgeof the forewing; males do not).

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6) In a notural situation, the pupae are camouflaged to appear as dried twisted leaves, straightening out only before emergence). In this picture there are two pupae (one is only the empty pupal case, the butterfly having emerged. It is the light colored one on the right. Can you find the other one? It is below and to the left of the empty case, just above the round, green leaf. The orange stain on the green leaf is excess orange body fluid eliminated by the emergent butterfly after the wings were fully inflated (see an image of that one here: http://forums.steves-digicams.com/fo...mp;forum_id=11

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7) When pupation takes place in an unnatural situation, the chrysalis and the emergent butterfly are improperly exposed and vulnerable to discovery. When I first found this one, I thought it might be in for a shock on emerging, but this was not the kind of shock I had in mind! She had no chance of escaping her fate before being capable of flight. Females must begin emitting male attracting pheromones immediately. Monarchs we have sen in similar situations have seemed capable of fending off suitors until they can fly off.

[robar]

P,
very nice extended series!!
but i'm afraid i'll lose sleep not knowing the exif..

cheers,
roy

[mtngal]

How cool! I've occasionally seen those butterflies around, but never knew what they were. I wouldn't have been able to spot the occupied pupa if you hadn't told us where it is - incredible camouflage. Thanks for posting the series!

[bigdawg]

Truly amazing series.

Dawg