The Privet Hawk moth (scientific name:Psilogramma menephron) was a mystery for me until the chrysalis hatched. I knew it was some type of hawk moth, but I didn't know exactly which species it was by just looking at the caterpillar. So, I waited for a month until the moth hatched.
Caterpillars
I spotted black droppings near my Parijaat plant, which meant that there were caterpillars somewhere. But I didn't find any. After about a week, I spotted a caterpillar. It was yellow, long, slender, and had a spike or a thorn kind of tail on its rear end. Since It was stuck to the leaf vein, it was not easy to notice. On searching the plant carefully, I found two more caterpillars.
Hawk moth caterpillar in its early stage.
I didn't get the chance to see the eggs, but the excitement of watching another life cycle from my balcony made me forget about it.
I watched the caterpillar's growth closely for the next few weeks. It's head got bigger first, and then the rest of the body. From light yellow, it turned green and developed a distinct pattern on its sides. Before the final instar, it sat on the leaf for 2 days and shed the skin of its head to get light white stripes. The caterpillar had a firm grip compared to other caterpillars I have seen so far.
Since it was the dry season, my Parijaat plant was shedding leaves. I had to get leaves from a Parijaat plant near the basketball court. One morning, I couldn't find it on the leaves, nor anywhere in my balcony. In the afternoon, it crawled out of the gaps between the pots. It had turned purple. I knew it was searching for the perfect soil to dig in and make a cocoon, so I put it in a pot where it dug in about two inches into the soil.
After two days, I dug the soil to check if it had shed the skin and made the chrysalis. In the first few days of the chrysalis, the outer layer is very delicate, and it can easily get punctured. So I waited for two more weeks. After two weeks, I dug the soil and carefully transferred the chrysalis into a shell filled with mud to observe it hatching.
On the day before it hatched, its wings portion of the chrysalis turned black(as shown below)
Moth stage
Finally, the moment arrived. It crawled out of the chrysalis and pumped its wings. The species and its colors were revealed.
On the following night, it released pheromones to attract the other sex. Next morning-
Footman moth (Nepita conferta) can be spotted easily due to their unique color pattern. They are bright orange in color and have black patterns on their wings with feather-like antennae. It is commonly found in South Asia--usually in the monsoon season. I was honored to see a part of their life cycle this monsoon, amid the pandemic.
Larvae:
The larva is black in color with few yellow stripes and is covered in fur. it is about 1-2 cm long. Touching them can cause allergic reactions for a few people. They are commonly seen on the walls because they feed on mosses and lichens.
Footman moth larva
Pupal stage:
The cocoon is very well woven. It is circled by a finely knitted hair shedded by the larva. The outer covering is called its cocoon and the brown shape where the metamorphosis happens is called the pupa. In the center, there is a fine bag where the pupa rests.
Footman moth cocoon
Footman moth pupa
Moth stage:
The pupal stage lasts for about two weeks. The moth hatches and releases pheromones to attract the male if the hatched moth is a female, and lays eggs on the next day on the cocoon itself. The larvae hatch from the cocoon and spread on the walls in search of lichens. The cycle repeats...
Tussock Moths are not as vibrant as other moths, but their larvae look bizarre and it has a peculiar life cycle. The female can't eat or fly because she doesn't have a proboscis and her wings are very tiny. After hatching early in the morning she releases pheromones to attract the male and then lays eggs in the morning. After laying eggs she starves to death in two days.
Scientific name:
Orgyia leucostigma
Larval:
I spotted a weird, furry, caterpillar eating away the apical part of my rose branch. It was a tussock moth larvae.
Tussock Moth larva
Tussock moth larva
The larvae seem very attractive but their fur can cause rashes if touche; it is a defense mechanism. The larva in the above photo probably moved to a different plant since I couldn't find it one day.
After a few months, I spotted a similar larva near my building. Obviously, I brought it home to observe closely.
New tussock moth larva
This larva was already in the final instar and in a week It made a cocoon
Pupal stage:
The Tussock moth larva weaves a crafty cocoon with its hair and silk. It first makes a hard base on which it weaves soft silk.
Tussock moth's cocoon
The moth hatches from the cocoon in 5-6 days, early in the morning. The female is like a sack of eggs; she doesn't have proboscis to feed and her wings are underdeveloped, leaving her unable to fly.
Female moth
The female moth covers its eggs with a secretion from its abdomen to form a protective layer.
Female tussock moth with laying eggs on cocoon
She lays dozens of eggs and dies hungry. Nature is weird sometimes, just sit back and enjoy it.
Dead female moth
Egg stage:
The eggs are white in color and are stuck to the cocoon in a dense cluster. The egg stage may last for eight days or months, until next spring.
The larvae hatch in a cluster and munch on the eggshell as well as the cocoon that the mother made. After the larvae finish eating the cocoon they shoot silk threads and move to a plant where they spend their larval stage.
Larvae hatching
Larvae are almost done with cocoon
It was a total disaster when the larvae started dispersing. I had to catch each one I could spot and put it in a cup with a brush.
Tussock moth larvae dispersing from the cocoon
Collecting larvae in a cup
Hundreds of larva were released on the host plant.
I grow Bryophullum ( a section within the genus Kalanchoe) in my balcony, which helps to cure kidney stones. I often spotted maggot-like larvae in the leaves, eating away the fleshy part and filling it with poop. Ughh! I plucked those leaves and chucked them away in the bushes thinking they can feed on the plentiful leaves there. I had been such an idiot! The larvae eat only specific leaves- their host plant. This spring, while I was surfing the internet for Species of butterflies found in Karnataka, I found images of these larvae. It was the Larvae of the Red Pierrot! I decided that next time I won't throw them away. In the Monsoon season this year, I spotted the red pierrots stopping by and walking on my Bryophyllum plant...Yes! It was laying eggs. Check out the video, which summarizes the life cycle visually.
Like and Share!
Description:
The Red Pierrot butterfly is a small but beautiful butterfly with a white, orange, and black pattern on its wings. It is found in India and other parts of South Asia and belongs to the lyncaenids or blue family. The larva feeds on Kalanchoe( host plant). In Southern India, it usually lays eggs during the monsoon season.
Scientific name:
Talicada nyseus
Egg stage:
It lays eggs on the underside of the leaves.
The eggs are white and less than a millimeter in diameter.
The larvae hatch after 3-4 days, known as the incubation period. After hatching, the larva bores into the leaf. It doesn't eat its own eggshell, unlike most butterfly larvae do.
The larva bored into the leaf near the eggshell.
Larval Stage:
The Larva bore into the leaf after hatching and feed on the mesophyll layer- the layer between the "skin" of the thick leaves.
The larva bores into the Bryophyllum leaf.
It is initially pale yellow in color. It grows rapidly and eventually turns pink. The larva has fine hair on its body with tiny black spots on the side.
The yellow larva is a few millimeters long.
It grows very rapidly over multiple instars.
It eats the leave completely, reducing it to a sack of excreta.
If it runs out of leaves, it will bore into the stem.
Larva Bores into another leaf
The Larva turns Pink in the later stages.
It searches for an ideal location to make the chrysalis.
The larval stage lasts for 16 to 18 days, after which it comes out of the leaf and sits under it or in a groove like the sides of a mud pot.
The larva stays in this position for few days and changes color.
Pupa Stage:
The larva stays in a suitable place and builds a fine silk pad and a thread to hold it in position. The Color of the larva turns from pink to yellow. The main blood vessel can be seen on the back of the larva rhythmically pumping blood. The Pupal stage lasts for a week.
In the first 2-3 days, it gets black spots on the pupa.
The pupa gets black spots.
More Pupae!
By the 4th or 5th-day, eyes can be seen.
By the 5th or 6th day, the wings become prominent.
By the 6th or 7th day, it becomes black and will hatch on the following day.
Butterfly Stage:
The butterfly hatches in the morning and pumps its wings for 5 to 10 minutes. While pumping and even after pumping fluids into its wings, it excretes few drops of excess pink fluid. It takes another 20 minutes to dry its wings. Finally, it flaps its wings for the first time and takes off.
Around 30 eggs were laid on my plant, and from the last week of August, the butterflies started hatching from the pupae. It is truly a mesmerizing moment to watch it fly away to decorate the gardens.
