Another attempt to find out the magic of the larva attaching itself before transforming into a chrysalis.
My first thing to do was to find the perfect candidate. This one was the biggest one I could find. So it took it only two days before the pupation started.
This was my setup. I still am not pleased with this. Another time I will try a new method.
At its posterior is a thing called a cremaster. Using the cremaster it makes a silk button for the attachment.
The caterpillar did a lot of crawling around.
So I am still not sure where the girdle silk comes from. The movie showed that it did a lot of twisting to get the girdle silk in place. However it ended up being at the wrong angle to catch exactly where it was from or how the girdle silk got wrapped around the larva. 🤷🏻♀️
Changing “clothes”!
However after twelve days it emerged and was released!
Wow. I watch it but don’t understand the miracle that takes place. It isn’t shedding anything. It wiggles and just transforms. How on earth does that work? Thank you Mary for working to take such photography and sharing it with us. It is amazing.
I had one thought when the cat was crawling and twisting, falling and twisting. There appears to be fibers of silk. So maybe it goes through all those antics to get the silks strands to all come together like a rope is twisted so it makes a strong strand.
Kathy , that is exactly what I read somewhere. But I wanted to see it for myself. Besides being at the wrong angle I think the camera was too far away. All this happened overnight. If had happened during the day and I had noticed I would have taken it out of the jar. Once it was attached I did remove from the jar knowing it would not crawl off some where in the house.
Endlessly fascinating.
Oh my gosh. The video of cat making chrysalis is just wonderful. Thanks so much.
Wow incredible videos!
Wow. I watch it but don’t understand the miracle that takes place. It isn’t shedding anything. It wiggles and just transforms. How on earth does that work? Thank you Mary for working to take such photography and sharing it with us. It is amazing.
I had one thought when the cat was crawling and twisting, falling and twisting. There appears to be fibers of silk. So maybe it goes through all those antics to get the silks strands to all come together like a rope is twisted so it makes a strong strand.
I noticed those strands too, Kathy.
Kathy , that is exactly what I read somewhere. But I wanted to see it for myself. Besides being at the wrong angle I think the camera was too far away. All this happened overnight. If had happened during the day and I had noticed I would have taken it out of the jar. Once it was attached I did remove from the jar knowing it would not crawl off some where in the house.
Those are great videos!!