The Emergence of the Hero and Heroin

6 days ago, I was really excited to see that the first cocoon has turned into an elegant butterfly. She is a female stichius and has been doing well in captivity. The next day, another female stichius came out from the chrysalis and join her sister. They are doing well now and everyday I make sure that the sugar water is always full as they feed on it. The first female now has a fat belly as she likes to feed on it. Today, I was really again fascinated that another pupa has cracked open and a Male emerged. Polytes males usually do not have any red color markings on their wing instead they bear  several white stripes on their frontal and back wings. 

  A Polytes male finally emerged..

 

 

The female stichius after feeding...

Artificial Feeding of Polytes Butterflies

 It has been five days since the butterflies emerged from the cocoon. As for the feeding, I prepared a bowl of sugar water where I place few sponge cuts into it. Well, since the butterfly does not know how to feed as no flowers are available, I tried to hand feed them by grabbing gently the base of the forewings and dip the mouth part into the water. This triggered the butterfly to release its probosis and began sucking the water. And as a result, it keeps feeding until today and I can see the abdomen becomes fat.. hehe

 

You can see the butterfly stick out its long probosis and sucking the sugar water 

                                            This angle shows a clear view of the probosis

Polytes Butterfly Breeding in Captivity

Due to corvid-19 case rising, the lab was closed for two weeks. Therefore, I brought the cage back and setup the breeding enclosure at home. To initiate the process, all pupae were placed inside the cage and the food stand as well as you can see in the image below. Hopefully, the butterflies will not be stressed out in the cage... Crossing fingers to this!

                              The breeding cage where the pupae are placed as to allow them to emerge.

Eclosion of Polytes Eggs and Development

 The egg of P. polytes undergoes a 3 days incubation in which on the 4th day of egg laying, the egg hatches into a 1st instar larva. After about 12 to 13 hours of dormancy, it starts to feed on young leaves and keeps growing until two days where it sheds skin into the 2nd instar. The larva keeps feeding for 3 subsequent days before reaching the 3rd instar.

After 3 days EL, the egg hatched into 1st instar catty. So small right that I had to use the magnifying glass to see.

The catty in its 2nd instar. I think it is growing the internal cuticle from the inside and ready to undergo the 2nd molt.

STEM Education for Kids: Butterfly Metamorphosis

 Butterfly metamorphosis has always been my interest ever since I was young. Observing the transformation from egg to larva and finally to adult butterfly has instilled the love of science in myself.  Such passion has brought me into the present career in science and engineering technology. Due to the corvid 19 pandemic, I spent sometimes at kampung to show the world of science to my niece as to instill the love of science in younger generation. By improvising the available items, we transformed the cat portable cage into a butterfly observatory. Of course, it is part of the STEM education...This is the final stage where we are waiting for the butterflies to emerge from the cocoons within 10 days from now. Crossing fingers guys!

 

 

 

Pupation Process

The pupation process of Papilio polytes was observed yesterday where the caterpillar was seen to curl on the twig around 700 am in the morning. It stayed in the same static position and if you look at it properly, it sometimes wriggled its body slowly. This is the process where it sheds the cuticle@skin from the inside. Around 930 pm, the process was completed with a full transformation into a pupa. The old catty cuticle was removed and fell at the bottom. Overall, the pupation process takes approximately 14 hours.

ANother Encounter for STEM Education

This morning after breakfast around 800 am, I went to the old station to find if there were any more traces of the caterpillars on the curry plant. This time, my niece accompanied me to check and we were surprised to see that there were four more catties@caterpillar of the 2nd and 3rd instar; busy devouring the leaves. My niece was very excited and asked 'pakde, can I keep two of them for observation?' And so she did. I allowed her as to expose her to science of insect metamorphosis in the early years. After we observed and discussed, we set up a simple experiment, collected the caterpillars and placed in the enclosure with plant to feed on. Hopefully, this will encourage her to engage in science slowly.

                        Simple experiment setup to observe the caterpillars changing into butterflies

Enclosure for Rearing Polytes Caterpillars@Larvae

 After reading, experimenting and watching youtubes on how to rear butterfly larvae, I finally came across a method, well cheap one that is being implemented in one research laboratory for genetic study. It employs the transparent drinking cup where I introduce slight modification as to maintain humidity and ample ventilation. The lid can be tightly sealed the top with a hole in the middle that is barred with mesh for ventilation. While at the bottom, the curry plant is wrapped with wet cotton, not too wet that can allow the growth of mold or fungus; as to help maintain the humidity in the middle and bottom part of the enclosure approximately 85-90%. This is to imitate the study by Jaafar & Huzair (2013). Ventilation at the top of the enclosure is to ensure a good transfer of heat and air circulation as to keep the curry plant fresh. So far, the caterpillars thrive well and growing with no problem of molting. 

 

You can see the plant wrapped in wet cotton to maintain humidity at the bottom and the middle of the enclosure. Observe how big the poops@excreta of the caterpillar! Fuh!

 You can see the lid with hole in mesh and tested for humidity and temperature. All values are within the range in line with Jaafar & Huzair (2013)

Fantastic Polytes Caterpillars and Where to Find them: The 13-years Old Sampling Station

 Papilio polytes or the common Mormon swallowtail butterflies are no alien to my backyard at Kampung in Perak as they have thrived well until now. This is because of the presence of the Murray curry plant that has been there for about 13 years. The curry plant has served as the food plant for Polytes caterpillars to feed and the chemical from the leaves attract the adult butterflies to lay eggs. I have studied this butterfly species for the last 13 years after undergraduate years and I even had a plan to make them as a model animal for my future study. Alas, I had to postpone the passion and ambition as I had to embark on studies using other organism. But now, I am going to start over again. The curry plant is the old sampling station for me to find Polytes caterpillars and the eggs...

                            The 13 years old sampling station for me to find Polytes caterpillars at Kampung..

COllecting P. polystes Egg from the Wild

 This morning, I managed to collect well, one egg of polytes swallowtail butterfly from the new leaf of Murraya plant. The eggs is circular and yellow in color. I cut the tip of the leaf and dip the egg into water for a minute to soak and carefully remove it from the leaf surface using we cotton. You can use brush which is better and preferable as to not inflict damage to the egg. Finally, I place the egg on tissue and artificially incubate indoor in a container. According to my experience and to the previous study by Jaafar & Huzaid (2013), the egg usually hatches after 3 days. Crossing fingers for that!

 

You can see that tiny little yellow egg under artificial incubation

 

The Caterpillars for Preliminary Lab-Propagation

 When I was strolling around in the backyard, I checked the curry plant and all of the sudden, I came across again the long lasting caterpillars of Papilio polytes. They were seven of them with one huge fellow which I think is in its final instar. For your information, this is the first insect species I have been studying for the past 3 years in 2006, right after I finished the undergraduate years. I have always wanted to make them as a model species for genetic studies; at least for me. I collected them and placed in empty cups with ample food separately to grow them until adult. I am planning to bring them to the lab and start a lab-bred colony for future study once I finish my PhD study. 

                                            Modified enclosure with ventilation at the top

 

Cheap enclosure for them to grow until adulthood...