So here are the photos of the adult. It emerged this morning around 7:40AM. I waited about 3 hours after, then tried taking it outside, but its really cold right now - today it was 9 C. It didn't want to open its wings and was actually having trouble grasping the branch. So I brought it back in and ...

Regarding the color issue I was thinking further about it and if it is true that only brown chrysalis diapause then it would make sense because by the time winter comes it would be easier to camouflage one self due to the lack of green foliage. It would be better to be brown to stay hidden. One migh...

I guess I have my answer, it's not diapausing. Keeps getting darker and can already see wing color through the chrysalis. It's going to enclose soon either tonight or in the morning.

Pupal color will not correlate with diapause with this species. Hold a strong light, like from a phone camera, to the head of the pupa and transilluminate. If you don’t see dark areas where the eyes are going to form after 15 days, it’s going to diapause. I'm not sure which end the eyes are, but th...

I found one of the last eastern black swallowtail eggs of the season back in early September and decided to do a photo/video project to document the life stages. It is kept in a solarium so it has exposure to the normal day/night cycle. Temperatures in the room are not too warm by the window probabl...

Greetings. I'm from Ontario Canada and I like to raise several Monarchs and Swallowtail every summer. It's interesting to observe and photograph them changing through their life stages.