Aim is to study display of mimicry by common mormon female butterflies in which some of the females show wing pattern similar to common rose and crimson rose which are poisonous and hence avoided by birds.
On 21/8/23 two early second instar larvae were picked up from the same curry plant and kept in a container with curry leaves.
On 25/8/23 the caterpillars had grown upto 1.8cm and 1.9cm .They were greenish brown in colour with white markings.
After a day when I measured the Caterpillar it had become 2.6cm in length on 26/8/23 that means a growth of 0.7cm in a day!
Next day was even more surprising as the Caterpillar wore new leaf green coat with eyespots and white markings.It ate fast.27/8/23
The Caterpillar ate rapidly and grew in size.Then on 31/8/23 it stopped eating and started searching moving around.That day surprisingly there was liquid waste in the container along with solid waste.
On 1/9/23 The caterpillar became sedentary and chose a spot where it curved and started making thin threads to attach.By 2.0pm the Caterpillar shed its skin and became a green pupa.
https://1drv.ms/v/s!AjDRNfOUNzOmiUuTGEDT1QnFGgIo
On 10/9/23 after 10days the adult butterflies were formed both were females.One cyrus form and the other polytes form which mimics common rose.They ecloded from their pupa at 7.15am and 8.15am respectively.
Collaborators Theertha,Sara Kalamudeen, Vishnupriya of CUBE and Chaitaly Roy of Naturemates