This Is What I've Got

As far back as I can remember, my family collected monarch caterpillars from the milkweed plants in the ditch at my parents house. Every year, we watched several go through their metamorphosis, sometimes seeing the butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. It generally went like this:

1. caterpillar fattens up on milkweed leaves
2. caterpillar hangs for a day or two
3. bright green chrysalis forms, stays that way a couple days
4. chrysalis turns black for a day
5. butterfly comes out

One memorable time, the chrysalis stayed black especially long and instead of a monarch butterfly, we were greeted by a steady stream of baby spiders I can only assume hatched from eggs that were laid in the caterpillar’s back. Shudder.

Anyhow, the point is none of us had ever witnessed the transition from 2 to 3, including my parents and grandma who had done this same gathering and observing in their childhoods. I assumed the chrysalis was somehow spun, but for all I knew it was magic. I brought two of them to my apartment and had been watching them turn milkweed leaves into dry poop pellets for about a week before one began his upside down hang. I had the video camera set up and got home from work just in time to see the dangling body undulating like an alien was trying to escape. I rolled tape just before the magical moment began.

While the caterpillar’s body is hanging, it is attached to the silk button by its 2 hind legs. As the pupa works the caterpillar skin up towards the top, just before the shedding is complete, it grabs on to the bunched up skin. For a moment, this is the only thing keeping it from falling. Around the 2:50 mark, the pupa pulls out a hooked stem called the cremaster and works it into the silk button, dropping the caterpillar skin to the ground.