Chrysalis - San Diego area - Nymphalis antiopa

sad outcome

Hi all,
Thanks for your replies to my original post. I thought I'd post an update that we found the chrysalis overrun with ants one afternoon. But I appreciate your warm welcome to the Bug Guide community, and I look forward to continuing to learn about bugs (along with my kids) as time goes on.

… LisaLM, 14 July, 2009 - 10:17pm

almost certainly a Mourning Cloak

Black and red caterpillar with this pupa makes it a pretty sure thing, but you'll know for sure if the adult emerges (shouldn't have to wait long).

… David J. Ferguson, 28 June, 2009 - 10:27pm

How about Mourning Cloak?

Did your caterpillar look anything like this? I have been finding a lot of mourning cloak cats, pupa, and adults this time of year. You can find more info about them here .

Welcome to BugGuide!

Edit: haha, looks like I was too slow to reply, Charley beat me to it.

… Chris Mallory, 27 June, 2009 - 6:10pm

Looks a lot like...

a mourning cloak

but I'm not sure if something else might be similar in your area. The caterpillar would look like this:

… Charley Eiseman, 27 June, 2009 - 6:08pm

Looks like a mourning cloak t

Looks like a mourning cloak to me as well.

… Gordon C. Snelling, 27 June, 2009 - 6:25pm

Wow, you guys are fast! And

Wow, you guys are fast! And I agree the chrysalis picture Charley posted looks just like our specimen. But the caterpillar doesn't look like the one I saw, although I admit I didn't really examine it carefully. It was fuzzy. Not furry, mind you, but it didn't look spiky like the mourning cloak caterpillar pictures you posted (although it's a beaut, so I think I would have remembered it).

My memory of the caterpillar is that it was more like half red/half black, although I'm not 100% on that (a bit more black than red). It wasn't such an unusual looking caterpillar that I bent down for a closer look - I think I saw lots of those types of caterpillars when I was a kid (in Texas).

So, if you have any other thoughts/guesses, let me know. Otherwise, we'll keep an eye on it, hope to catch it coming out of its cocoon, and see what emerges! This BugGuide.net is a great resource!
thanks,
Lisa

… LisaLM, 27 June, 2009 - 11:47pm