Monarch caterpillar in "J" form awaiting it's metamorphosis into
a chrysalis...
here you can see the long black tentacles all shriveled and twisted up
a true sign that metamorphosis is about to take place.
the cat begins to straighten out as the
chrysalis begins to bulge and pop the skin
here you see the skin splitting just between the twisted black tentacles
and the chrysalis becomes more and more
unveiled...
til it has almost all appeared and
the cat squiggles and squirms round and round
in order to get the old skin to drop off
it finally drops off as the caterpillar twists and twists around
apparently securing itself even more to the top of the container
finally settling down, it begins to dry
and harden, you can see at this time where the butterfly
head is, and antennae and even the legs will eventually be
here is a completely dry chrysalis all ready to begin
the metamorphosis into a beautiful adult monarch
butterfly... in about 10-14 days
each day there will be changes and I will photograph them as I can and post them...
an exciting time!
No comments:
Post a Comment