A Chrysalis

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water

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A Chrysalis


I have a chrysalis attached to a chair (the room has a door to the garden, I suppose this his how the caterpillar came in). I have been observing it ever since it was a caterpillar, with all the hair. It is now a chrysalis, and the shape of it gets more and more defined over the last two months or so.

I would like to know how long does it take for the butterfly to emerge. That is, I would like to know how long the actual process of emerging out of the chrysalis takes. An hour? Are there any sure signs by which I could tell that the time is near? How long in advance? I most certainly don't want to miss it!


Thanks :)
 
Are they that different when it comes to the butterfly emerging from the chrysalis -- regarding the "hatch time"?
 
yes, I have a book here "The Audubon Society Feild Guide to North American Insects and Spiders" if your in this region I think it I can help you identify it, what did the caterpillar look like? How big was the caterpillar?
 
If it was all hairy, it sounds like you have a cocoon there, and a moth will "hatch" when the metamorphosis is complete. As a rule of thumb, moth caterpillars are fuzzy, and butterfly caterpillars are hairless, but I'm sure there are exceptions.
 
I live in central Europe, so I take I'll have to look up field guides for this area.

I just thought that there may be a general something that happens as an indication that the "hatching" will soon begin to take place.

Anyways, the caterpillar was about 4 centimeters long, about 1 in diameter (without the hair), with the hair about 1,5, and dark brown. The cocoon is now 2,5 cm long(exactly), dark brown, with fancy "horns" sticking out: two in the front (I take it is head-down), and several on two parallel lines at what seems to be the back of the future butterfly/moth. Then, there seems to be a sort of a shield around what seems to be the middle part.

I'll keep you posted.
 
It hatched, in the night. Didn't see what came out.

Well, yes, that's it. And now an empty chrysalis is all I own ... :(
 
Aw, that sucks. :(

though I have a question: I was cleaning out my windows (don't ask :rolleyes: ) and while poking out all the spiders in the hinges with a stick, I knocked something out and saw it land on the sill. I thought it was a worm or something, but now I think it was a chrysalis. It was abt half a cm thick, bit more, and abt 2-3cm long, and dark brown. As it lay on the window sill (half attached to some spider web) it started squirming. My dad who was there said he thought it preferred the dark, but Rosa your story seems to indicate it wouldn't necessarily (I'd assumed where it hung wasn't in the dark). Anyway, so, was it a chrysalis? Or just a mother of a spider, or it's prey, squirming in a ... brown husk? :confused: Someone please enlighten me!
 
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