It’s been a while since I updated readers on my no-longer-mysterious hummingbird clearwing moth caterpillars. Last you saw, they were one day old and looked like this:
© Loree Griffin Burns
Now they are twelve days old and look like this:
© Loree Griffin Burns
Amazing, eh? It won’t be long before these cats are ready to pupate. I’m not sure exactly how long, actually, so I plan to fill the bottom of the tank with dirt (they pupate underground) as soon as possible. Then I’ll watch and wait, camera at the ready.
For the record, the outdoor eggs I’ve been watching (eggs of the same moth species laid on the same plant, presumably at the same time) finally hatched, but more than a week later than the ones indoors. Can you guess why?