The emergence of the butterflies (there were four of them) from their pupae reminded me of a famous quote by Richard Bach – “What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls the butterfly”. The Indian Common Mormon Butterfly, a sub species of the Common Mormon Butterfly species is found extensively across India (obviously, that’s why the name) and sometimes in my little house-garden. The pictures below is their transition or metamorphosis from the larvae to beautifully coloured butterflies with swallowtail hind wings.
The activity of capturing them through their various stages was something that I had been planning for long. Yes, this was not the first time that two specific plants in my little house-garden were attacked. I say attacked because by the time the butterflies fly away, the plants are stripped off all their leaves. While on all previous occasions, its was my lemon tree that had to endure these voracious eaters (the caterpillars), this time around however, it was my curry leaves tree.
I noticed them first, after they had already emerged from their eggs and were crawling around the leaves of the tree. Since I was planning this for long, out came my Macro lens with all its gear. I knew that this would be a long project running across approx. 25 days but I was sure that it would be worth it. Below is the story (in pictures) of the life-cycle of the Indian Common Mormon Butterfly. Hope you enjoy it.
