2025 July 2 evening
Interested viewers may enjoy learning that a Tiger Swallowtail butterfly chrysalis that Ian Cooper spotted on December 13 2024 in View Royal and that was recently checked on before dawn on June 30th, was found to be empty at dawn the following day, July 1st.
Several photos of the empty chrysalis exuvia were sent to Jeremy Tatum for review and it was determined that the butterfly had safely ecloded, most likely as the day warmed up on June 30th.
Although he didn’t witness the butterfly’s eclosion live as it occurred, Ian was delighted to learn that the chrysalis had remained viable throughout the previous six and a half months and that its metamorphosing inhabitant had finally managed to emerge.
Jeremy writes: Although the empty chrysalis skin may look a bit messy and unattractive, seeing exactly where it split when the adult insect emerged told me that it was indeed a butterfly that had emerged and not some dipterous or hymenopterous parasitoid. We don’t know whether the butterfly was Pterourus rutulus or P. eurymedon.
Empty pupal shell of Tiger Swallowtail Pterourus sp.
(Lep.: Papilionidae)
Ian Cooper
Invert Sightings 