There was a Caterpillar Crawling...

He's a cute little guy

So last week (Tuesday, June 25) I saw this little guy crawling along on my front steps. I thought he looked interesting and took this pic but didn't think any more about it.

Little did I know what this inscrutable insect had planned...

A few days later I noticed the little bugger hadn't just kept moving on. It had decided to set up shop.

When retrieving the mail, I noticed a new occupant had moved in.

Chrysalis Day 3

It was a chrysalis. Obviously the caterpillar had decided my front steps were the perfect spot to transform into a butterfly.

Well I had missed it the first couple of days, but now I checked it every day. This Tuesday I noticed a distinct color change from the light tan-brown the chrysalis had been to dark blue-black. The last two images in the animated GIF below were taken just a couple of hours apart on the afternoon of July 3. All of the others were taken approximately 24 hours apart starting on June 28.

The chrysalis matures

It sure did move around a lot for being stuck in one place.

The early on the July 4 I saw that the butterfly had emerged. It was about 3:30 A.M. and the little guy was standing on the step near the empty chrysalis. It was dripping wet (a puddle of the liquid was collecting on the step right below it -- anyone know what that stuff was?). I don't know how long it had been out but it couldn't have been long.

The camera flash washed out the color, but here's the newly emerged butterfly

I wasn't sure what kind of butterfly it was going to be from the caterpillar (in fact I misidentified it based on Google image searches, but I was close). Now that the butterfly had revealed itself I could get an accurate I.D. I watched it over the course of several hours as it dried and flexed its wings. Once it spread its wings I could finally find out what it was.

Behold, the Red-Spotted Purple Admiral Butterfly!
(Colors still washed out by flash)

Another angle on the guy (girl?)

 The butterfly is a Red-Spotted Purple Admiral, Limenitis arthemis astyanax. It is related to the White Admiral, L. arthemis arthemis. In fact where their ranges overlap that interbreed and create hybrids. Virginia is south of the White Admiral's territory. According to Wikipedia, L. a. astyanaxis an interesting species. It's what is known as a Batesian mimic:

"The palatable red-spotted purple mimics the unpalatable Pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor) with its overall dark wings with bright iridescent blue along the hind wings."

I'll trust Wikipedia's assessment of how palatable the butterfly is.

Anyway, after about four hours, sometime between 7:00 and 7:30 A.M., the butterfly left, hopefully to have a happy, if brief (about four months), life.

From caterpillar to butterfly

Updated on 7/6/2018 to correct the Latin names.