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Butterfly Garden

Black Swallowtail Cats? (pictures)

saturniidaebreeder

15 years ago

Well,

Its my first time rearing swallowtails...Ive raised moths mainly... & monarchs but a few others. So, I got some Parsley to try Swallowtails. I found this cat and about 3-4 eggs on my plant today, are they Eastern/Black Swallowatils? Any idea what instar? Im not very familiar with these and there size etc., but from my guess its a 1st or 2nd instar. Its around 2cm.

Here they are(cameras not to good on closeups):

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Thank You!

S.B

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Comments (3)

tracey_nj6
15 years ago
Fantastic BST pics. I'm still a rookie, having only done monarchs and 2 BST's last Sept. I'm still confused about the instars; one website showed pics of yours as 3rd instar, yet another website said 2nd instar. I'll wait for "the experts" here to tell me what instar they are when they turn "pretty". I just found 4 more (same as yours, only tiny), this time on my fennel (my first year growing).
saturniidaebreeder
Original Author
15 years ago
Thank you, Im almost sure there 3rd instars... but again Im not to familiar with butterflies, and how big there cats get. It would probably be a 2nd instar if a large moth... from my knowledge of rasing many. But yes, whoever has experience with butterflies, please help us with instars.
Thank You,
S.B.
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MissSherry, I took a picture this week of a BST cat shedding its skin. It's a funny pic, as another cat kept intruding. I thought a good caption would be, "Do you mind, I'm changing!" When I first saw the cat, it was dark and dull. It looked unhealthy. Then I noticed that it was molting. I watched the whole process, as did that other nosy caterpillar! So possibly that dead-looking cat that you saw was getting ready to molt. I'll try to post my pics when I get a new computer--mine is about 10 years old and is starting to have problems. I lost a port so I can't connect my camera or a card reader any more. I also got a good shot of a newly hatched PV and 2 more trying to break through the egg shells. You can see their little black heads just peeping through the top of the eggs. Sandy
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jmcat
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Well, comparing it to your fingers and then estimating it on my finger, I think it is definitely too big for a second instar. So I'd say, yes, a third instar.
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?what to do with this little guy?

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