This is an Anise Swallowtail (Papilio z. zelicaon), reared from an egg. Because my previous specimen was parasitized, I kept the current one in a covered terrarium to exclude parasitoids.
This afternoon, when I checked the prepupa, it had raised its head from the tucked-down prepupal position and was jerking around. By the time I returned with the camera, no more than five minutes later, the larval skin was off and the creature, now a fresh chrysalis, was still active, thrashing and twisting. (The black object in a groove between segments is debris, which I removed later.)
THIS IS A LOW QUALITY PREVIEW. Please log in to see the good quality stuff.
Its activity continued for several minutes. Forty-five minutes later, its shape had changed and it had settled into the normal chrysalis posture (leaning back) and stopped moving.
| Image hosted by forum (863441) © OhLook THIS IS A LOW QUALITY PREVIEW. Please log in to see the good quality stuff. |








