Is a butterfly pupae male or female...how to tell
Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 4:33 pm
Having 81 large white pupae in my bedroom (ones I reared from caterpillars) made me think ofwondering how to find out which ones would be male or female. Looking around and at various texts, I found the way.
When you have caterpillars, you don't always know what sex it will turn into (mostly you don't until it hatches from pupae) but most people wait until this stage to find out (this is one of my large white pupae, close to hatching a female): Now there is a way to tell if the pupae is male or female (in moths I don't think its the same) . If you look close enough at a butterfly pupae you can make out some features of the adult, the wings, eye mark and possibly proboscus. Now to find the sex, you'll need a good eye (magnifying glass or get a good close up photo).
This is your pupae (with area circled that I am talking about) Here is the area up close: This area can determain the sex of the butterfly. This area corrosponds with the anal claspers of the adult. A male pupae has two tiny bumps close to the tail of the pupae (which is in shot) and in female, these are usually slimmer and lighter. So if your able to work out this, you can sex your pupae prior to hatching. In some butterfly pupae you can see which might be female or male, just by looking at it, but for most, a closer inspection like this can tell you.
When you have caterpillars, you don't always know what sex it will turn into (mostly you don't until it hatches from pupae) but most people wait until this stage to find out (this is one of my large white pupae, close to hatching a female): Now there is a way to tell if the pupae is male or female (in moths I don't think its the same) . If you look close enough at a butterfly pupae you can make out some features of the adult, the wings, eye mark and possibly proboscus. Now to find the sex, you'll need a good eye (magnifying glass or get a good close up photo).
This is your pupae (with area circled that I am talking about) Here is the area up close: This area can determain the sex of the butterfly. This area corrosponds with the anal claspers of the adult. A male pupae has two tiny bumps close to the tail of the pupae (which is in shot) and in female, these are usually slimmer and lighter. So if your able to work out this, you can sex your pupae prior to hatching. In some butterfly pupae you can see which might be female or male, just by looking at it, but for most, a closer inspection like this can tell you.