The Disappearing Caterpillars

I have been fascinated with the life cycle of butterflies ever since I read about it when I was a kid. I pored over the colorful pictures in books with a mix of awe and yes, disgust. The close-up photos of the caterpillars, their pupas, and even the butterfly's bodies filled me with wonder and a certain fear. I grew up loving them but afraid of them touching my skin.

When I became a birdwatcher, I was able to get over the fear (I'm maybe 95% cured!) but the fascination has definitely doubled... even tripled! So imagine my joy when I first witnessed a Lime Butterfly laying eggs on my mom's calamansi plant in her pocket garden! It was "Stage 1" come to life!!

Do you see the tiny orb?

The adult butterfly would curve its body and deposit a single egg on a leaf or stem of the host plant. It would flutter around again and would deposit another egg and then another. My mom and I were able to see it lay around 4 eggs that morning.

A few days after, I returned to the plant and found three tiny brown crawlies munching away at their chose leaves! Success! 

One of the "older" ones

I constantly checked on them and tried my best to document all the changes, transformations, and growth of the caterpillars. In the process, I was able to find four caterpillars on the calamansi plant and they were of varying sizes! I was able to observe them eating, staying still, AND I was also able to witness a defensive behavior they are known for!

I accidentally hit the leaf it was on with my finger and out came
those yellow-red "horns" from its head!
The photo is blurred because I was caught off guard seeing its horns!

It really is amazing being able to see first hand things I only once read about or see from other people's photos. I left it alone after that =)

I checked on them every morning as soon as I woke up. They would either be having breakfast or fast asleep.

This was my photo of the largest one from last Sunday. I was able to count all four caterpillars that morning before I heard mass with my family.

They're growing so fast! You can see a smaller one climbing down
the branch under my finger.

When we returned that afternoon, they were all gone. All of them. Disappeared without a trace!!!

I was really sad. There was no trace of them! I checked the neighboring plants but they weren't there. My best guess as to why they all disappeared: a bird had eaten them.

I was so excited for them to complete their metamorphosis! Especially since I haven't seen an actual eclosion! Oh well, I guess I have to wait for another batch of these creepy crawlies to come to life in our garden. In the meantime, I will have to content myself with completing their life cycle through different experiences:

They were supposed to develop into bright green caterpillars until
they were ready to pupate.
This was from a previous batch of Disappearing Caterpillars.

When ready for pupation, it positions itself like this and begins
 the slow process of enveloping itself in a chrysallis.
Again, from another unsuccessful batch.

Its chrysallis is bright green and really alien-like!
This one was unsuccesful... a parasite got inside it =(

Of course, the last stage would have been the best to observe: eclosion or the emergence of the butterfly from its pupa. I have yet to witness that but I did get to see some newly-emerged Lime Butterflies last weekend!

Fresh from the pupa!
Its empty pupa case is on its upper left

We were also able to see them mating just after eclosion!

I have technically seen all the stages in their life cycle although in different places. I'll be on the lookout again for any egg-laying butterflies in our garden and hopefully the next batch will no longer contribute to the increasing number of disappearing caterpillars.

I have a previous blog post about the unsuccessful pupas here.

Other Than The Birds...

Our friend Trinket recently organized a bird survey for a portion of one of the bigger and greener universities in Quezon City and Jops and I volunteered together with our friends Adri, Drew, and Luke. Our group met up with Abby, Program Manager for Campus Sustainability, early Saturday morning and were off to the trail.

We saw and heard quite a number of birds but it was a surprisingly quiet trail given that there is a water source and good vegetation. Naturally, when birds are quite scarce, we turn our attention to the wildlife other than the birds =)

Clearing before entering the usually off-limits trail

As we walked towards the trail we would be exploring, we passed by a calamansi plant and Trinket and Adri quickly saw some newly-eclosed Lime Butterflies! It was so cool seeing the fresh, new butterflies perched, unmoving near their discarded chrysalis. [eclosion - the emergence of an insect from the pupa case, or of a larva from the egg]

Look at those pretty colors!
Can you see the discarded chrysalis?

While we enjoyed taking photos of the beautiful, unmoving butterflies, birds began calling from around us: Black-naped Orioles, Collared Kingfishers, and Golden-bellied Flyeaters were coming out to sing.

Abby taking photos of the butterflies

Along the trail, we were joined by more staff and a security guard and they shared their bird observations with us. While talking, we heard the loud calls of Barred Rails and some Philippine Magpie Robins made a quick appearance. High on the canopy, some Olive-backed Sunbirds were flitting with the Eurasian Tree Sparrows and a lone Red-keeled Flowerpecker was also spotted.

Adri and Trinket went with Drew the night before to set up some herp traps to try and collect some specimens as part of the survey. [herpetology - the branch of zoology concerned with reptiles and amphibians] We soon reached the first trap they set up and Drew checked to see if there was anything caught in it. I think we were all hoping for snakes, but alas it was empty.

Drew and Abby checking the herp trap

They dismantled the trap and we headed closer to the stream. Along the way, a small toad was spotted, examined, and documented.

The small toad was examined and found to be an invasive Cane Toad

We set it free 

We moved on to check out the small pond and its surroundings. It was still very quiet along the trail, save for more noisy Collared Kingfishers calling around us. We did see an adult Black-crowned Night Heron in the area.

Waiting for birds... pitta? cuckoo? bush hen?

While we waited, I spotted some mushrooms scattered along the ground.

Abby found a small cluster of delicate mushrooms on a fallen log.

Trinket also found some chunky-looking mushrooms that released their powdery spores when she nudged them!

Fleshy, chunky fungi

Mushrooms weren't the only thing our group spotted on the ground! Trinket soon called me to check out something Luke spotted: a moth caterpillar! Trinket told us it was a kind of sphinx moth caterpillar!

Beautiful creepy crawly!
They are amazing to observe but they kinda creep me out!

We left the caterpillar and moved further along the trail. We exited the trail and saw lots of White-breasted Woodswallows perched on wires. A Coppersmith Barbet also gave us good, long views through the scope as it perched on some leafless branches. We ended our survey by the calamansi plant where we saw the Lime Butterflies and were surprised to see them already paired up and mating!

Mating pair of Lime Butterflies
fresh out from their chrysalis

It was cool to see stages of a butterfly's life cycle come to life that morning. We also spotted some butterfly eggs, still unhatched on the calamansi leaves. I wished my students were there to see it all!

Our group listed 19 species of birds, plus mushrooms, butterflies, and moth caterpillars too. Together with the ants, mosquitoes, and stink bugs we saw, it was a really fun morning exploring with friends =)

Waiting for Butterflies: From Egg, to Cat, to Pupa

I've been waiting quite a while for the eclosion of two lime butterflies from their pupas in our small garden. Eclosion is the emerging of the adult butterfly from its pupa.

I've been lucky enough to witness the adult lime butterfly lay its eggs, usually on the underside of the leaves of my mom's calamansi plant. It curls its lower portion to deposit a single, yellow egg on a leaf.

Do you see the tiny yellow egg near the base of the leaf?
This is a freshly laid egg!

I've seen the eggs hatch into tiny caterpillars which slowly gnaw at the leaves' edges. I've observed them grow into much larger brown caterpillars...

and then change into plump, bright green caterpillars...

The newest stage I've seen was the positioning of a green caterpillar to turn into a bright green pupa!

The caterpillar then chose a branch, curled up, and
positioned itself to get ready for pupation. First time I've seen this!

The pupa was bright green and supported by very fine "silk thread"
which, upon further reading,  is called a "silk girdle."

Upon closer observation, I saw another pupa which was brown. I checked out the very detailed and amazing page on Lime Butterflies on Butterflies of Singapore which Adri and Trinket shared with me months ago. I learned that this species's pupas can have two color forms: green and brown. And we have both at the same time in the same plant! 

This brown pupa was formed before the green one.
You can clearly see the "silk girdle" here!

The pupas are supposed to turn black and then become transparent, showing the developing butterfly inside and after a day, the eclosion happens. So now, I wait.

And wait. And wait. 

Both pupas have not turned transparent and I am afraid that they might have "drowned" during the past days' rain. The brown pupa also has a small hole on its side which makes me think it was "invaded" by another insect, and Adri thinks this is possible.

This picture shows the small hole on the brown pupa.

I guess the survival rate isn't quite good for these butterflies. The first batch of caterpillars I observed "disappeared" before pupation (we think the birds ate them.) At least, this batch made it to the pupa stage. But I will still observe and wait for the butterflies to emerge, maybe they just need more time. (Otherwise, I am so tempted to inspect the inside of the failed pupas.)

While I wait, an adult lime butterfly decided to lay a couple more eggs for me watch and observe =)