another cat

I found another guest in the garden, this time munching on the tender leaves of a young costus guanaiensis var tarmicus shoot. I find caterpillars fascinating because they all so different and they come in a myriad range of colours and sizes. I don't know whether this will end up as a butterfly or a moth (most people think the former) but i'm sure it would be one beautiful specimen. The thing about caterpillars is, never try to touch them with your bare hands, particularly the hairy ones because they will cause an allergic reaction which could end up in a major rash.

common rose butterly

One early morning, I chanced upon these little black caterpillars munching on the leaves of my Aristolochia grandiflora (Dutchman's Pipe). As the cats were particularly striking, I refrained from whipping out my sears and insect repellants. A few days later, the cats got bigger and bigger and eventually, they started to form a chrysalis. At the time, I still did not know what sort of butterfly it would become and in any case, my knowledge of butterflies in general is very limited. About a week later, one of the butterflies emerged from its pupa and it was simply beautiful. I looked up the internet immediately in a bid to identify it but before I found a match, a friend of mine who saw the photos I posted on facebook commented that this was the Common Rose butterfly. I looked it up on the internet and viola! He was right!

The Common Rose (Atrophaneura (Pachliopta) aristolochiae) is a swallowtail butterfly belonging to the Pachliopta subgenus, the Roses, of the genus Atrophaneura or Red-bodied Swallowtails. It is a common butterfly which is extensively distributed across South and South East Asia. That said, it is not that common in Singapore because it feeds mostly on Aristolochia and we do not have a lot of them growing in Singapore, and certainly not in the wild. I'm still amazed how it managed to track down the plant at my place.

resurrection

I found this fella chewing on my Costus varzearum one early morning. I've not managed to identify the species but i'm sure it would morph into something quite spectacular.

sinister beauty

I'm not the biggest fan of caterpillars and i'm sure most gardeners aren't. In fact, caterpillars are considered pests on account of the destruction they cause and the consequent heartache which ensues. It doesn't help that these little buggers have the propensity to inflict quite a nasty rash upon physical contact, especially the hairy ones.

When I chanced upon this pair of bright canary yellow caterpillars happily chewing on my variegated  Alocasia, my first instinct was to cut them in half with my gardening shears and toss them into the pond as fish-food. However, I held back as they were unusual and visually quite stunning. I tried to carry out some research on the web to see what type of butterfly they would metamorphosise into but to no avail. At the time, I ought to have put them in a make-shift butterfly tank but I appeared to have been more fixated with the damage done to my Alocasia. So I took them to a street nearby and left them by a tree with the hope that they would continue their journey into adulthood, failing which, end up as bird food. (which is perfectly acceptable as it is part of the food chain) 

Just as an aside, gardeners including myself ought to be mindful that whilst we do not generally welcome caterpillars in our garden, they are an integral part of our ecosystem as they are, like bees, important pollinators of plants. Without them, nature as we know it, may not be as diverse or beautiful 

x-rated flies

I took photos of these flies doing their thing. It's amazing how close I could get to them without them scooting off. I suppose they were really caught up in whatever it was they were doing. Still, these remain one of my favorite insect photographs to-date. Too bad I only had a 4 megapixel digital camera then.