Thursday, March 8, 2018

Blurry Caterpillars

A few weeks back, Jeanette posted pictures of caterpillars I'd never seen before, living on her lemon tree.

So this week when we found large numbers of the same caterpillars on our citrus trees, I knew what they were:
 Not just little ones, there are also medium-sized ones,
 and quite large ones.
So there are multiple different instars, which implies multiple batches of eggs have hatched and developed. Without us noticing at all!

They will become dainty swallowtail butterflies (Papilio anactus) which are rather beautiful. But I haven't noticed them around here, and wonder how they found our citrus trees? And how far do they travel?

Sorry the pictures are blurry. I've had a bad day. I broke a tooth last night. This morning I found a dentist who could see me today, but when I was on my way to the appointment they rang me about my "missed appointment". Somehow either I got the time wrong, (despite repeating the appointment time back to them as confirmation when I made the booking), or they noted it incorrectly in their system. Either way, we had a failure to communicate, and I missed the appointment. Fortunately they had another time available tomorrow morning, so I will try again.

3 comments:

Jeanette said...

All but two of mine disappeared when I was away for two days. They were really big, but I can find no sign of a chrysalis. Hope you do better observing yours.

jacaranda said...

Handsome little creatures.

Ivani said...

I like to observe the nature, we always learn. Life is beautiful all around. Sorry about your tooth, hope everything goes well tomorrow (or I may say today. LOL