Florida Nature Pictures
Butterflies

Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar Life Cycle
Agraulis vanillae

These are the tiny eggs of the Gulf Fritillary.
They look like little gumdrops!

In a few days the tiny larvae hatch. This one was barely 5mm long.
They are born hungry and ready to start eating the young tender leaves.
These were found on my Passiflora suberosa Passion Vine commonly known as Corky Stem Passionvine.

Once the Caterpillar finds a good spot, it spins some silk and hangs itself upside down in
the characteristic J Shape. It will stay like this sometimes a few hours and sometimes an entire day
until it is ready to wiggle out of its skin and the pupa emerges from inside.

This is what is left of the crumpled up skin after it is shed.

This chrysalis was hanging off a nearby cactus plant. 9/20/2009	Here is a front and back view of a pupa I reared in a bug box recently. 5/15/10 The pupal stage varies from one to two weeks.

Here is the Butterfly right after she came out of the pupa.
Now she must hang upside down till her wings are dry and ready for flight.
This takes a few hours.
9/26/09 4 P.M.

Here you can see the coloration of the wing underside.
9/26/09 6 P.M.

She is definately ready to be released now !

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