31 Orange Tip chrysalises

[Jack Harrison]

I currently have 31 Orange Tip chrysalises. I grow Sweet Rocket (aka Dame's Violet) in the garden and it makes excellent cut flowers for indoors.
But with it come Orange Tip caterpillars. Hence now all these chrysalises, all but one from the garden plants.

Not a single case (at least at this stage of the life cycle) or parasitism and no cannibalism.
100% success rate larvae >>> pupae

Jack

[chriscooper111]

Seen loads of Orange tips in the wild this year on the garlic mustard think its a good year for any pupa that over winter. Wading through speckled browns and meadows the last few weeks. I am in Harrogate North Yorkshire and we had a really cold wet April and early May with virtually no sunny days which I think really affected the first breed of the species like the Peacock, small tortoiseshell and Comma that over winter in the butterfly state. Seen virtually no Tortoiseshell adults or larva this year yet but plenty of peacock larva. I keep a few of each in a butterfly house with living nettle plants and have 2 in reserve and they successfully breed in there every year. I also over winter 3or 4 of each to give me a start in April. I also over winter elephant hawk moths and Cinnabar moths.

[chriscooper111]

[David M]

Good luck with them, Jack. I'm sure they are in very safe hands.

[Jack Harrison]

Orange Tip pupae.

Poor science as I didn't make proper notes.

2023s batch of about 31, 12 emerged (and released), 10 died and another 8 (still looking very healthy) are going to overwinter a second time.

2024 - 9 pupae

At least, there is some pretence of 'science'. I am keeping the two batches separate.

And as I am getting on in years (85), my younger wife has instructions as to what to do with the Orange Tips in spring 2025 if I'm not still around then

Jack

[PhilBJohnson]

We hope Jack's around then (sorry I have not read Jack's diary recently).
I will try and keep to this topic for now.
This photo I titled, "sorry, no time to focus"
You can see where the pupa lid lifts and clearly the sex of the butterfly just before it emerged. As I though someone was trying to "lift my lid" at about the same time, resulting image:

Orange tip pupa 26th April 2024, Lincolnshire

A point was, what I tried to do in 2024, in all ideal England was to rear outdoors as wild, or with micro mesh nets (protection from predators and parasites), rather than under glass (or indoors) so that a butterfly was more seasonally in time, with it's larval food plants outdoors and a help for those wanting to count and understand wild emergence times.
The other ideal, if using micro mesh nets, was to auto release butterflies in first flight, without attracting a predator or parasite in.
A science is there.

A precious female. 6th May 2024, Lincolnshire

An important point in all of this, was when monitoring wild, garden pupae, was possibly, try not to let a "bird near an overlooking window" notice.
This above Orange-tip female, emerged to be a butterfly, the following day. I thought, nature had evolved more male Orange-tip butterflies than female butterflies in the last 50 years. Clues to a hypothesis in reason, might have been, that female pupa and butterfly, managed to camouflage more from predators, than males and males generally, on average, emerged from pupae, or were predated before females emerged from pupae.
Might you agree?


As far as I knew, no one really wanted to be clowned with "GreenPiece" in their back garden, releasing butterflies from under nets, while you were not there in that remarkable timing. #BCConservation #TresspasersWillBeSomething
With micro mesh nets, a vegetable science was used in a similar way, to try and keep white butterflies out and if you were misunderstood or set up, like I was, or thought I might have been, you might not be forgiven in someone elses misguided self righteousness.
Good advice was, to try and speak to Someone sensibly first, before accusing them of something.
Kind Regards,

[ChrisStamp]

I managed to capture an emergence in closeup on video (after a few attempts) this spring. Copy and paste link here:

youtu.be/NfLGpbPB6kI

[Jack Harrison]

Yes, I'm still around at 86 years and two days. I don't keep a diary.

My 80-year-old wife is fully briefed how to deal with the menagerie in the fridge should I not make it to next spring.

Box of healthy-looking Orange Tip pupae from 2023. Another box with pupae of OTs, Large Whites and one Small White all from 2024.

Yet another plastic box with seven adult Peacocks — THE species of 2024 with enormous numbers.

Jack/size]

[Jack Harrison]

Just looked at your video Chris. One of the best I have seen of any emergence. Nature is quite incredible.

Jack

[ChrisStamp]

I missed the emergence itself Jack - just left the camera running and came back to find the butterfly (they always seem to emerge just when you stop paying attention for a few minutes!). Replaying the video I'd captured was quite an experience - quite amazing.

Chris

[Vince Massimo]

That's a brilliant sequence, Chris . I have sent you a PM on the subject.

Vince

[Padfield]

I missed the emergence itself Jack - just left the camera running and came back to find the butterfly (they always seem to emerge just when you stop paying attention for a few minutes!). Replaying the video I'd captured was quite an experience - quite amazing.

Chris

Exactly the same happened to me with a rescued purple emperor chrysalis. The morning it was supposed to emerge, I sat in the room and waited - and waited, and waited ... He stubbornly refused to come out. Eventually, at about 14h00, when Minnie couldn't hold it in any longer, I left the camera running and took her for a walk. A few minutes after I left (you can hear the door shut on the video), the contractions started and by the time I returned, there was a male purple emperor with fully pumped up wings in my living room (and a video of the emergence).

I don't think it is coincidence ...

Guy

[David M]

...I don't think it is coincidence ...

It does seem to be an especially rare event to witness the contractions at the point of emergence. I don't recall seeing this as a child when I used to rear good numbers of Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells. I remember seeing them inflating their wings post-emergence but I'm pretty certain I never saw the pupae crack open.

[Matsukaze]

I missed the emergence itself Jack - just left the camera running and came back to find the butterfly (they always seem to emerge just when you stop paying attention for a few minutes!). Replaying the video I'd captured was quite an experience - quite amazing.

Chris

Exactly the same happened to me with a rescued purple emperor chrysalis. The morning it was supposed to emerge, I sat in the room and waited - and waited, and waited ... He stubbornly refused to come out. Eventually, at about 14h00, when Minnie couldn't hold it in any longer, I left the camera running and took her for a walk. A few minutes after I left (you can hear the door shut on the video), the contractions started and by the time I returned, there was a male purple emperor with fully pumped up wings in my living room (and a video of the emergence).

I don't think it is coincidence ...

Guy

I suppose it makes good evolutionary sense to be able to detect if there are large mammals about when emerging from the chrysalis, and timing emergence accordingly.