Today morning, while watering my plants, I spotted a bee on the periwinkle flower. It plucked a petal and took off. I was astonished! After a few minutes, it returned and this time started chopping a leaf from the butterfly pea plant, and took off with it like it was a magical carpet from Arabia. This was weird! I googled it and found out that it is the leaf-cutter bee.
Leaf-cutter bees make their nests in holes of trees or rotting wood. It is monsoon so probably it had made its nest in some rotting piece of wood. They are very crafty. The bees roll the leaves and fill the holes where they lay their eggs.
The bee visited my balcony for 3 days non stop- tearing a leaf and returning after 4-5 minutes. I was inspired by its hard-work. I must say though- it made a mess with those cuttings.
Almost every time I visit the balcony, I find something new. Today I spotted a shiny insect on my night-blooming jasmine(Raat Raani). It was a jumping spider! This time in a peculiar shade. It had had striking patterns on it- Shiny blue with black stripes and white legs. It was a bit more slender compare to other Jumping spiders I have seen. It is not called "Gemstone" Jumping spider. But because of the mixed colors and luster, it looks like a gemstone.
I put it on the floor with the leaf to observe it under the eyepiece. It was more aggressive and active than the usual jumping spiders. But all of them have one thing in common: they all move their fangs the same way and dart at my eyepiece. Of course, they would; it is so intimidating for them.
Jumping spider darts at the eyepiece
When I put it back on the night-blooming jasmine leaves, it clamped down on pests--white flies.
White flies(Trialeurodes vaporariorum)are tiny 1 mm long flies that dwell under the leaves. They feed on the sap of the leaves, draining out the nutrients. Nature takes care of itself; this time, with the spider.
The praying mantis is a bizarre creature. It makes very swift movements but can strike with lightning speed. I met a mantis when I was in 7th grade but never dared to get close. It's not very rare to see a mantis but really exciting.
I encountered another mantis this year (2020). Like the year itself, the mantis is also a unique and weird one. Look at how it danced on Russian Gopnik music-
That obviously did not happen.
On 12th May,2020, after a rain evening, I went to my balcony to breath some fresh air. I spotted a green bug clinging onto the net near the Neem plant. It was a small praying mantis, didn't even have wings. I took a photo and forgot about it.
Few days after I spotted it on the neem plant, I saw it again. It had choosen to stay and had grown bigger.
Gopnik Mantis
Tucked away in the fragrant flowers of Neem and surrounded by ants, it looked like an alien monkey.
The following day, I tried feeding the pulp of grapes to it. I had tried feeding raisins to a St.Andrew's cross spider too so I though I'd try the same with this lad. I broke a thorny twig from the lemon plant and stuck the piece of pulp on that. As I brought it closer, the mantis moved away, but when it touched its mouth, It started licking the juice. I was surprised to see the carnivorous insect was eating fruits!
Mantis licking grape juice off its hands
Mantis eating grapes
It is not natural for mantis to eat fruits, but I was curious. So, I also tried sticking a piece of mango on that thorny twig and offering it. Tada! it ate it right away.
Mantis eating mango!
On the next day, 17th May, It hunted its first prey- first hunt that I saw. The unlucky insect happened to be a black bug with a hard chitinous shell. They often roam on the lemon plant which is right beside the Neem plant. When I came with my eyepiece and phone, it froze for a while and stared at the camera from the side of the eyes. You can see in the video.
Mantis eats a bug
After a wholesome first meal the mantis was more active. It started doing kung-fu and chasing my finger.
Mantis doing kung-fu
Mantis tries to catch my finger
It was 28th May. More than 10 days since the mantis ate that small bug. It was becoming weak. I hesitantly offered a piece of papaya (I am a vegetarian, so feeding meat insects was not an option for me). It didn't go for it this time, but when I shook the piece vigorously after every few seconds to mimic an insect, it caught the mantis' attention. When the Papaya touched the mantis' mouth it started nibbling like a hungry lion. I can never tell what is going on in their head, or if they can even think.
Mantis eats Papaya!
Finally, on 31st May, the Mantis hunted a big insect. I don't know what it was, looked like some sort of stink bug. It gained a lot of weight after feeding and just stayed at one place. The wings started appearing.
Mantis eats a bug
On June 6th, its wings had gotten bigger, but they were still too small to be used for flight. I picked up the mantis on my hand. I was afraid it would pinch me so I used a cloth.
June 9th was the last day I spotted it on the Neem plant. Unfortunately, I couldn't document its whole growth.
The Common Mormon is a black butterfly found in south-east Asia. The male is black with white spots on the lower wing. There are 3 types of females: Cyrus, being black with white spots with small red spots(looks like a male); Stichius has fewer white spots and more red spots; and Romulous has only red spots. In the video given at the end of this post, the butterfly laying eggs is Cyrus, the one hatching is Stichius and the one in the photo at the end of the video is Romulus.
Cyrus common Mormon
Stichius common mormon
The life cycle of swallowtail. Observed in February 2020. Like and subscribe!
Scientific name:
Papilio polytes
Life cycle
The whole life cycle is shown in the video. Description for each stage is given below. The eyepiece was very useful here. The photo of the egg, larva, osmeterium, and its hatching are taken with eyepiece and phone.
Egg stage:
The Common Mormon butterfly lays eggs on a curry leaf plant (neem) or lemon plant, which are the host plants for the larvae. The eggs are yellow in color initially and the size of a mustard seed. The butterfly lays its eggs underneath the leaf. I have a neem plant and a lemon plant on my balcony so the butterflies come every year in the spring season.
Laying eggs
Egg of common Mormon/swallowtail
It is fascinating how they are able to find a neem or lemon plant in the concrete jungle I live in. It takes about 3-4 days for the eggs to hatch. The eggs turn darker and are completely black before the hatch. After hatching the larvae eat their egg shell first.
Eating eggshell
Larval phase:
The larvea are very vulnerable in the initial days after hatching, They usually fall off the plant due to wind or lose grip on dusty leaves. They are brown in color and resemble bird excreta in the initial stage.
As they feed on leaves and gain weight, their hairy skin is replaced by a smooth skin layer by the 2nd or 3rd instar. They shed their skin 4 times and each phase between that is called an instar. They resemble bird poop until 5th instar.
The caterpillars often feed on leaves very fast and then make a silk pad to get a firm grip and rest for digesting the leaves.
Caterpillar sitting on silk pad
Resembles Bird excreta
An osmeterium is a red membranous tissue that protrudes from their head when they are disturbed. This is a defense mechanism and a mimicry of snake. It also secretes a liquid that has a fruity smell. It is intriguing that they eat lemon leaves but give a sweet smell. Some show it in early stages and others in the 5th Instar.
In the 5th instar, they shed their brown skin and become green. In this instar they best mimic a snake. Their green body has eyes like patterns on their neck. When touched they show their osmeterium.
Emerging as a snake, leaving its old skin behind
Mimics a snake in the 5th instar
Showing the osmeterium to mimic a snake
They feed for about 4 weeks and then tie a silk thread to hang onto a branch for 2 to 3 days.
It takes about 5 to 7 minutes to shed their skin and emerge as chrysalis.
Pupa stage
The caterpillar forms a pupa that is either green or woody-brown in color depending on the background on which it builds the pupa/chrysalis. The pupa covering is very soft initially and is vulnerable to Chalcid wasps. To protect it from chalcid wasps I carefully cut the layer of the bark on which it made the pupa and pasted it on a toilet paper roll. Then I put this in a netted box.
The chalcid wasps make a small hole in the chrysalis and lay eggs inside it. The chalcid wasp's larvae eat the butterfly and dozens of new wasps emerge from the chrysalis. One of the chrysalides was almost infected by a chalcid wasp, but I spotted it in time. If the pupa is infected it will be bent outwards and the lower portion won't be firm. It will also have a dark pigmentation.
The pupa turns black before it hatches. It takes 10 to 12 days for the pupa to hatch.
Butterfly stage
The first chrysalis hatched when I was at school so I couldn't film it nor see it. When the second one turned black I knew it would hatch the other day. I had been up since 5:30 am waiting for the moment setting up my phone and eyepiece, and a camera too. I had my chemistry practicals exam of 11th grade that day, I left the camera outside and hoped it would get recorded. the video was not centered but yes, it got recorded.
The butterflies pump their wings which takes 15 to 20 minutes. The fluids from their body are pumped to wings by a rhythmic movement like peristaltic movement. Normally, it hatches in the morning. After expanding its wings, the butterfly dries it in the sun until they become firm. It is absolutely beautiful to watch it hatching. After few short flights, the butterfly starts a new cycle.
Hatching
Pumping wings
Feeding:
The Common mormon feeds on many small flowers like Ixoras and bougainvillea. The bougainvillea flowers in my balcony attract these butterflies.
