Papilio demoleus (Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Arthropoda, Class Insecta, Order Lepidoptera, Family Papilionidae, Genus Papilio)

In one of my butterfly uploads, I mentioned that our citrus plants and trees (lemon, lime, calamansi, and pomelo) are currently infested. One of the insects which infest them (particularly the lemon, lime, and calamansi trees) is the citrus butterfly or swallowtail caterpillar. However, instead of getting rid of them, I sometimes let nature run its course. I find the citrus swallowtail quite striking esp. with their red and blue eye-spots.

Metamorphosis is an amazing marvel of nature. In zoology, it is a term applied to a series of distinct stages in which abrupt structural changes happen in the development from egg to adult. An insect, such as the butterfly, is active and worm-like (caterpillar) in its larval stage.

Based on the number of opened pupas I found over the course of two months, at least six citrus butterflies have already emerged from them. Since I'm mostly at work or become preoccupied again whenever I reach home, I unfortunately never get the chance to witness a citrus butterfly emerge (last time was in 2018). It's either I see an already opened pupa with no citrus butterfly in sight or a still intact one.

One morning, however, much to my delight, I saw a citrus butterfly on the ground near where the lemon tree is planted. Given its erratic flight pattern, I reckoned it has just freshly emerged. After finishing filming, it suddenly flew over the wall to the neighbour's place. Two days later, it paid our garden a brief visit as can be seen in the short clip with Celia Double Red hibiscuses.

Per my observation, the citrus caterpillars are such ravenous leaf-eaters. The Papilio demoleus is the usual citrus swallowtail species which frequent our citrus trees. They possess white markings in their early stages in mimicry of bird droppings---a defence mechanism. Before the last moult, a caterpillar will crawl out under a leaf or onto the stem or trunk to spun a pad of silk and fasten itself to this pad. There are occasions (e.g. dislodgement from the host plant), however, wherein they spun somewhere else, but always near the host plant and above the ground.

As can be seen in the clip, there are two pupas which fastened themselves onto a concrete wall. And then, hanging with its head down, it will moult once more into the next stage---the pupal stage or the chrysalis. The chrysalis is surrounded by an outer covering or cocoon. It is coloured green at first until it becomes brownish-grey in colour. On the outside, it appears inactive, but it actually undergoes many changes in internal organisation. Eventually, the insect emerges transformed into its adult stage (a butterfly).

More on Papilio demoleus @:
[ Ссылка ]

свернуть