Caterpillar advice

[Mikhail]

It can take a couple of days or more, according to temperature.

Misha

[Paul]

How exciting!!.. seems you will definitely find out what it is!!

[Padfield]

OK boys and girls - you can unwrap your Christmas presents now...

http://www.guypadfield.com/movies/pupation091.wmv

Sorry about the dire quality of that movie. I had put my little friend in a shady place, on top of a cupboard in a rather dark room, and I had to illuminate him with a torch at the same time as holding the camera. He emerged at midnight! The video is at double speed throughout.

This photo of him shortly afterwards suffers for the same reason.



Yes, his wings are green. I still don't know what he is. Do any moths have caterpillars that look like fritillaries, with those spiky things?

It's afte 1.00am here now and I must go to bed!!

Guy

[Dave McCormick]

Nice vid Guy. Green wings? I am not so sure what it is now. Sure its not Dark Green Fritillary? its caterpillar looks kinda similar to your one and its underside is kinda green. Ok, the pupae looks more like a Nymphalid or something in shape. Interesting, I don't know really.

[Padfield]

A couple more angles, this morning:




Any suggestions as to ID welcome (it seems you were right, Pete!!). It is not DGF, Dave, though again, thanks for the idea. And please do keep checking this thread - I shall have more practical questions in due course and I will welcome your collective wisdom and experience.

Guy

[Pete Eeles]

Time to stick my neck out

Of all the species I'm familiar with (i.e. those found in the British Isles) the closest is the Small Tortoiseshell - although both the larva and pupa are darker than I'm used to seeing!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

Thanks, Pete! So should I return the Sturmia bella to the valley when they emerge?

Guy

EDIT: The shape and size are good for small tortoiseshell. If the caterpillar can be very variable, I think you might be right, Pete.

[Mikhail]

I think you're right, Pete. How embarrassing to be fooled by a Small Tort!

Misha

[Pete Eeles]

Thanks, Pete! So should I return the Sturmia bella to the valley when they emerge?

Guy

I'll leave that to your conscience I think you only get one Sturmia bella per larva (that's my experience!). Ugly little blighters, but I'm sure they'd say the same of me.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

I think you're right, Pete. How embarrassing to be fooled by a Small Tort!

I started it by suggesting it might be a frit - sorry!! The timing makes sense for small tort too.

Guy

[Denise]

Brilliant stuff Guy. I've never seen that before.
Every aspect of Leoidoptera is just fascinating, trouble is that it is highly addictive!
I can't wait to see if a ST emerges, and that fly hasn't done any damage.
Cheers
Denise

[Padfield]

ST is bivoltine/trivoltine in the valley - effectively continuously brooded during the summer months. I wonder if the earliest caterpillars are particularly dark to maximise their use of the weak March sunshine. This caterpillar certainly looked different from all the book pictures I've found. The pupa looks pretty standard, though.

I will release it down the valley because it will presumably emerge in a couple of weeks time and I don't think there'll be any STs around at my altitude then - the species is monovoltine in the mountains.

Guy

[Piers]

If I can't find it suitable nutrition up here, is an option to stick him in the fridge until next weekend? Will he survive?

It's not impossible that refrigeration at such a critical point in larval development could produce a temperature triggered aberration, although the relatively mild temperature in the refrigerator may not be cold enough to affect the required degree of shock. You never know though...

Felix.

[Padfield]

It's being snowing here for the last two days and he'd probably have felt warmer in the fridge than outside. Swiss butterflies get exposed to quite severe extremes of temperature at all stages of their life-cycles and I've not yet found any obvious aberrations in small tortoiseshells.

I found this nest of small tort larvae today near my house, at c. 1000m. They mostly look typical but some (at the top right of this photo) do show rather little yellow.



Guy

[thepostieles]

should take afew days id have thought

[chitin]

My last lot of Qof S purchased from a dealer would not touch Violets but fed avidly on Pansy from Garden Centre. might depend on what they were last fed on.

[chitin]

Colour of pupae may depend on the background colour, my Peacocks certainly did. Greenish on plants, Brown on wooden cage sides.

[Padfield]

I don' think there is any doubt now!! This is what has become of that errant caterpillar who wandered into my camera bag three and a half weeks ago...



I kept the pupa outside, in a shady place, in a cardboard box, so its emergence would be delayed and coincide with the emergence of the new brood up here. I saw my first shiny new, wild small tortoiseshell a couple of days ago, so I guess my plan worked!

Guy

[Padfield]

Assuming my friend would emerge tomorrow morning, I zoomed off after school to photograph Dukes, only to find I had missed the magic moment.

It's a girl I think. The abdomen looked very girly, but shortly afterwards she/he exuded a large glob of meconium and I didn't disturb him/her to see if the abdomen had changed shape.



She seems to be roosting with me tonight but I expect her to be off in the morning.

Guy

[Pete Eeles]

Crikey - I actually ID'd something correctly!

I've managed to find 4 Small Tortoiseshell larval webs over the last couple of weeks, and have take 10 larvae from each, in support of the Oxford Uni. study. I'll post some Sturmia bella shots in due course

Cheers,

- Pete