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Fred H.

Can anyone tell what these are?

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Found these on my siding after the hurricane. they look like an old broken twig. Obviously a cocoon of some sort of moth or butterfly. Has anyone ever seen this before and can tell me what they are?.post-11886-1221434430_thumb.jpg

post-11886-1221433927_thumb.jpg

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Mike, I'm going to hang them from a shelf over my flytying bench and wait to see what they turn out to be.

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Make sure that nothing ugly hatches out and scares the household Fred.......................................... :blink:

 

Let me know what it is ok

 

 

Mike................................... B)

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They're definately Lepidoptera chrysalids- the pupal stage of a butterfly, not a moth. We could narrow it down a little bit- what size are they? and were they hanging vertically by the "tail" (correctly called a cremaster) or were they fastened upright with the tail attached at the bottom, and with a little safety belt holding them out from the siding at an angle?

 

I'm going to take an initial W-A-G - these are a species of swallowtail, either Tiger Swallowtail (Pterorus glaucus) or Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes). It appears I can see a remnant of a girdle line (the safety belt I mentioned) on the one, and the form is very close to the swallowtails I've reared.

 

Do you have any cherry, tuliptree, sassafras, fennel, or carrots growing nearby?

 

They can easily dessicate and die if you keep them indoors in air-conditioning, otherwise they are pretty durable.

 

One thing to watch out for- wild caterpillars are heavily parasitized by braconid wasps and tachinid flies. They are harmless to humans but I've had these nasties hatch out of chrysalids and cocoons I've collected outdoors. Hopefully you'll be lucky and have a couple beautiful butterflies to look at before long.

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They were found attached at the tail end . Not hanging , they were vertical at a forty five. They measure 1 and a half inch in lenght.

Should they be anchored anew? Or can they emerge from their cocoon if left unattached?

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Fred- they should be OK. Based on the size, I'll guess they are either Tiger Swallowtail or possibly even Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) if you have any citrus trees nearby.

 

It would be best if you could put them on or near something the butterflies can crawl up on to expand their wings when they hatch. Something like a piece of nylon mesh works good. They like to hang after they hatch (eclose) and it makes it much easier for them to pump their wings to full size and dry out.

 

I'm not familiar with the flight seasons of the swallowtails where you are, these may want to wait until next spring to come out, or if you usually see them in late September/October, they might be ready to hatch soon.

 

Good luck and make sure you take some pics when they appear!

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yes, I have an orange and a lemon close to where they were found. Both are laden with fruit and wont flower again till next spring. I do have a loquat in bud.It should flower out in the next couple of weeks. I would assume they will time their hatching or emergence with their prefered fauna in bloom, no?

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Very likely those are Giants then- great butterflies. The adult butterflies will take nectar from any available source, even getting nutrients from mineral-laden mud. They don't care whether or not the citrus are in bloom. The larvae (caterpillars) eat citrus leaves, along with only a very few other things. If your citrus trees don't drop their leaves, and it doesn't freeze there, you may have larvae at any time of the year. Obviously they will be more common in spring through summer. These could also overwinter in their pupal stage, so don't be discouraged if they just sit around for a long time. As long as the segments of the abdomen of the pupa remain flexible, they're usually OK. If they get hard as a rock, then usually that means they've dried out and died.

 

They're great- a freshly emerged Giant Swallowtail is an impressive creature. The size and proximity to citrus trees makes me think Giants, but I'm wrong a lot. Just ask my wife...

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Hi Fred.

 

 

iv been waiting a long time out of curiosity, and i was wondering if they did hatch yet?

 

 

Regards C

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Hi Fred.

 

 

iv been waiting a long time out of curiosity, and i was wondering if they did hatch yet?

 

 

Regards C

Claudia , I'm sad to say the cocoons disapeared before they hatched out. I had them in a large bird cage on my back porch , checking them twice a day waiting for their emergence. One mourning the cage was on the ground and torn open. I can only assume it was hungry racoons. This is not the first incident of this kind . I guess it is a trade off for living in a remote area. The wildlife ,birds ,mamals and reptiles are beautiful to observe up close . Sometimes hunger and curiosity brings them too close.

Fred

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Hi Fred.

 

what a shame! it could be qwite cool to see what they turned out to be. sad the racoons got to them. Thanks for sharing anyway.

 

 

 

Have a great spring and even better summer

 

 

C

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