Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - Chrysalis Study
"As [the] chrysalis is usually hung to the underside of a fence rail or overhanging rock, or to a leaf, it is usually surrounded by green vegetation, so that its green color protects it from prying eyes. As it near the time for the butterfly to emerge, the chrysalis changes to a duller and darker hue. The butterfly emerges about twelve days after the change to chrysalis." (page 308 Handbook of Nature Study)
Today we looked at one of our last chrysali. Some observation questions taken from the Handbook:
- When the caterpillar gets read to change to a chrysalis what does it do? It hangs itself by its rear feet and forms the "hanging 'J'" Then it sort of "shrugs" itself out of the skin. You can tell when it starts to happen because the antennae become very limp looking. The skin splits at the head and it works its way out of it.
- How is it attatched to the object to which it made its chrysalis? It attaches by its back feet. When the skin has finally fallen off there is a black stem-like part that is firmly attached to the object the caterpillar decides to make its home
- Can you see, in the chrysalis, those parts which voer the wings of the future buttery? When I asked Cameron this question he audiably gasped when he found what it was talking about. He had never noticed it before. If you look at the picture above, you can really see the outline of the wings that are forming.
- Where does the chrysalis skin open when the butterfly emerges? It breaks towards the bottom and kind of splits open at the bottom. It opens opposite from the side the wings are on.
- How does the empty chrysalis skin look? The skin is papery thin and see through. The gold spots, and black and gold ridge are still there.
Comments
Wednesday, October 1, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Dana @ School For Us
Great photos. Isn't it an amazing process? Our milkweed is stripped almost bare right now, so we don't have any caterpillars. In fact, we just haven't checked often enough this year so we haven't been observing them as much. I might have to buy a few more plants so we can watch them "change" again!
Dana
