I moved him to a volunteer swamp milkweed nearby. He took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up on a volunteer blue vervain that’s growing on its own in a very dry spot, somehow.
ETA: the perspective is off because it’s my phone’s macro lens. This guy is way too small to be ready to pupate. We have other late instars in the garden and this one was way, way smaller. Just a lost little dude.
by Upstairs_Bat5752
3 Comments
Probably looking for a place toupate. You meant well, but it is usually best not to help creatures in the garden – let nature take its course. That being said, I have moved a dry stem of dill with a small black swallowtail caterpillar over to a more robust parsley or Zizia. I would not move a 5th instar, because you may be interrupting a natural and necessary process. They do not normally pupate on milkweed..
When they get big like this they roam around. I assume he’s looking for somewhere nice to do his metamorphosis thang.
I’ve bee seeing oleander aphids on other plants too, those idiots.