Insect and Spider Identification: CLOSED: caterpillar id?, 3 by vitrsna

vitrsna wrote:
Greetings Moon and Flap...i thought i would provide an update. attached is a better photo of the Opsiphanes (sp?) caterpillar, the last instar as a caterpillar just before pupation. the next photo is of the pupa, and the third photo is of the chrysalis with the discarded skin still attached to the top (sometimes it falls off and sometimes not).

you might notice that the pupa is on an areca palm and the chrysalis is still attached to the palm frond but detached from the tree and in some kind of building (which is actually my house).

i checked on the pupa a couple of days ago and there was a "beneficial" predatory wasp attached to the pupa. i immediately pinched off the wasp without damage to the pupa, but there is no telling if the pupa has been infected with wasp larva. there were 3 or 4 other wasps waiting for their turn at this pillar. it is not my habit to bring pupas into the house (as many people do), but i knew that this pupa was history if i did not do something quickly. so i cut the frond with the pupa on it and brought it into the house. i am not familiar with this caterpillar and its cycle here and so do not know when to expect eclosure but the chrysalis will become transparent before the butterfly emerges so that i will be able to return it to the garden and a natural habitat before it ecloses (if it does). So far the chrysalis appears healthy but that could change in a day. At any rate, I’ll post a photo of the butterfly here if I should be so lucky.