Both of these chrysalis belong to Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae) butterflies. Although the caterpillars were reared on the same host plant, in the same ten gallon rearing container and made their chrysalis within a foot of each other one is green and the other is nearly pink.
The Cloudless Sulphur is a highly variable species in nearly every form. The caterpillars are usually green but when their host plant cassia is awash with yellow blooms, the larvae eat the flowers are turn a bright yellow color. With this extraordinary camouflage you can stand inches from a brilliant yellow caterpillar and never see it among the carpet of flowers on the host plant.
Event the butterfly is variable in color. Males of the species have a clear yell0w upper wing but females can range in color from lemon yellow to nearly white with black edging on their wings. This highly variable coloration keeps me on my toes, having to always be ready to redefine my visual cues for a species in the wild. I really enjoy watching several Cloudless Sulphur butterflies emerge on the same day and looking over the color differences while the butterflies dry their wings.
2 comments:
One of my favorite butterflies, I especially like the soft pink hues of the pinkish chrysalises.
They really are such an amazing color. I like the contrast of the green veins.
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