Backyard and Beyond

Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world.

As John Burroughs said, “The place to observe nature is where you are.”

Chrysalis

The pupal stage of the Monarch is suspended a cremaster attached to a silk base.Isn’t it amazing? Begs the question why we think we need religion and other fantasies when life is so interesting.In a morning of ferocious heat, I counted 19 caterpillars and three pupae or chrysalises in a patch of milkweed and other plants. I’m sure there were more.The colors of the scales on the wings are the last thing to develop.Here’s an empty husk of a chrysalis. If you plant it, they’ll come… sometimes. Green-Wood has made some effort to put in a few patches of Common Milkweed. It’s a messy affair: devoured, shat upon, not at all the landscaping you would expect in a traditional cemetery. Our hats go off to them.Two of the three pupae I spotted were on a human structure. That probably made them easier to see. This late instar caterpillar is heading down-stem. Did it not like this grass as a place to anchor and transform?

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ACT UP’s index on civil disobedience.

mthew

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3 responses to “Chrysalis”

  1. Dana

    I did not know that second definition of “cremaster.” Interesting! Great series of posts.

    Reply
    1. mthew

      Everything is hanging by a thread.

      Reply
  2. Pupa Knows Best | Backyard and Beyond

    […] Revisiting this pupa of what I think is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail in better light and because I find it fascinating. If you look closely, you can see breathing holes on the segments. And the support filament that secures the lower end (or right third in the horizontal view) of the structure to the rock. This filament actually goes around the body like a string belt so that it is attached to the rock on both sides. (So different from this Monarch chrysalis.) […]

    Reply

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