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Hi,

Although I already reared many hundreds Papilios, now I found strange pupae development I never saw until now. I would like to ask another experienced breeders what can cause this anomaly.
What is found is when pupa starting to pharate , one side of pupae is visible to develop, but oposite one did not change at all. It affects only "wings and head" part of pupa. Abdomen part is visible. I have several pupae with same appearance.

Additional info :

1. Larvae were collected in nature - parasiting is possible. But I saw many parasited pupae and "it was" different.
2. Pupae had normal hibernation, no unnatural changes in weight or colour.
3. Pupae are living ( they are moving ) until maximum transparent, but did not hatch at time and I think they are already dead.

friendly, Jan

Interesting, let's hope the butterfly will emerge !
Could be a bi-form result with one aberrant half... or it could be a totally normal imago.

Are these specimen bred from wild caterpillars, or from 2nd, 3rd generations of breeding ?

I have very rarely seen this before. The half of the pupa that does not develop remains hard, and unfortunately the pupa cannot hatch. I have no idea what can cause this or how to prevent it. If it is happening to several pupae from the same batch it way be due to desiccation on one side during diapause, or a strange hormonal imbalance.

Adam.

Thank you both for reactions.

Larvae were wild collected. Now I think Adam can be right with some form of desiccation. I have several pupae affected exactly same way and what is strange - it is same side of pupaes. As I am laying all pupae on one side to have clear look on one side of wing part to check development - it can have impact. I was not thinking about desiccation because never heard about possibility to desiccate only part of pupa while butterfly inside is normally developing.

Jan

teinopalpus wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 10:37 am I have several pupae affected exactly same way and what is strange - it is same side of pupaes. As I am laying all pupae on one side ...

Does the side of the pupa that fails to develop always correspond to the side that was either up or down, or were the pupae not all placed on the same side?

Maybe you should place the pupae either face up or face down, which would be more natural. In nature they would never be on one side.

Adam.

teinopalpus wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 10:37 am Thank you both for reactions.

Larvae were wild collected. Now I think Adam can be right with some form of desiccation. I have several pupae affected exactly same way and what is strange - it is same side of pupaes. As I am laying all pupae on one side to have clear look on one side of wing part to check development - it can have impact. I was not thinking about desiccation because never heard about possibility to desiccate only part of pupa while butterfly inside is normally developing.

Jan

It must be the issue indeed, as they don't stay on one side in nature.

I attached quick photo of how are/were pupae placed. They are partially on one side for better stabilization. Using such position for many years, until now without problem. All pupae are placed same way.
Part that fails to develop is one closer to bottom of box - always, but have also one pupa which is all pharate on wings and abdomen part, but unchanging part is head, anttenaes and legs part.
This batch of pupae is totally strange. I got them in autumn. Everything was OK until May. I even noticed for 4 pupae raising of weight in May ( which I think is not possible if some kind of parasite do not lay eggs inside recently )
Have another batch of pupae of this species from other ( european ) locality which were kept in same conditions and all are hatching OK.

Will open one pupa during weekend to see if imago was well developed.

Jan