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woollybear69

An Expired Butterfly Pupa.

woollybear69
9 years ago

This is a photo, of an expired Malachite Butterfly Pupa, taken on Dec. 23, 2,014........ This Malachite Butterfly Pupa, was resting on the bottom of my terrarium, before it expired....

Comments (6)

  • kaboehm (zone 9a, TX USA)
    9 years ago

    What went wrong? Did you learn anything from this? Without more info, this isn't too helpful. Just a picture of a dead pre-emergent butterfly.

  • woollybear69
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    This Malachite Butterfly Pupa, was resting on the bottom of my terrarium, waiting to eclose. This Pupa was going through the process of changing into a butterfly, and at first, everything was okay, for the first 2 days. When I awoke the next morning, the Pupa was starting to turn Black. Something happened during the night, that changed a normal Pupa that was changing into a butterfly, to a Pupa that was starting to turn Black. I watched this Pupa very closely, and after 2 more days of turning more and more Black, I knew that this Pupa had expired.....In Nature, some Butterfly Pupae turn into normal butterflies, and some Butterfly Pupae do not....

  • woollybear69
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    This Malachite Butterfly Pupa, was resting on the bottom of my terrarium, waiting to eclose. This Pupa was going through the process of changing into a butterfly, and at first, everything was okay, for the first 2 days. When I awoke the next morning, the Pupa was starting to turn Black. Something happened during the night, that changed a normal Pupa that was changing into a butterfly, to a Pupa that was starting to turn Black. I watched this Pupa very closely, and after 2 more days of turning more and more Black, I knew that this Pupa had expired.....In Nature, some Butterfly Pupae turn into normal butterflies, and some Butterfly Pupae do not....

  • woollybear69
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Giant Swallowtail Butterfly Pupa: This is a photo of a Giant Swallowtail Butterfly Pupa, that has expired. This Giant Swallowtail Butterfly Pupa, has been resting on the bottom of my terrarium, waiting to eclose. Everything looked normal, and everything was okay. Then one morning, I noticed that the abdominal segments, on this Pupa, were starting to turn White. Every 6 hours, I checked on this Pupa, to see if there were any changes. As each day passed, more of the abdominal segments, started getting White. After 3 days, most of one side of the abdominal segments, and one other area of this Pupa, had turned White. This Giant Swallowtail Butterfly Pupa, has expired.....Cause, unknown.....

  • kaboehm (zone 9a, TX USA)
    9 years ago

    Are you sure it's not just overwintering? Is this a normal time of year for them to emerge?

  • woollybear69
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    This photo, does not show what this Pupa really looked like. This photo, looked like a normal Pupa, but it was NOT. My Camera DID NOT take a good photo, of the Pupa that was resting on the bottom of my terrarium.....The whole one side of the Abdominal Segments ( Abdomen ) on this Pupa, had turned WHITE. Plus, one other area on this Pupa, had also turned WHITE. This Pupa had expired. I held this Pupa between my fingers, and it was very light, and a lot of this Pupa had turned WHITE. If I would have kept this Pupa for another 3 or 4 days, this Pupa would have turned ALL WHITE. This is the first time that I have seen an expired Pupa, turning ALL WHITE. All the other expired Pupas, have turned BLACK. This Pupa turned WHITE. This Pupa had EXPIRED.....I apologize for this bad photo. My camera DID NOT show what this EXPIRED Pupa really looked like. A WHITE, EXPIRED Pupa......

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