Blue Tiger Butterfly Caterpillar (Life cycle)

Description:

Bands of white, interspersed with circlets of black. Yellow stripe-like pattern down the length of the body. The last photo shows how it has eaten up the host plant.

Habitat:

Road side. Residential area. My morning-walk route. I stopped in my tracks when I saw these nibbled leaves. I turned one leaf over almost touching one of the caterpillars (there were two). Immediately it curled up. The host plant was crowding the base of a Murraya paniculata shrub.

Notes:

I saw them again on the 19th when I took the photo where the body is straight. However, they were gone on the 20th. I wish them a safe transition. Metamorphosis is such a fraught process in moths and butterflies. I saw the pupa of one and my friend and neighbour Pampa Mistri hosted it for a day; it emerged today 27 June (in the wee hours and Pampa is devastated she could not film the process!) and we set it free. We went over to the host plant and sure enough there was another Blue Tiger (born free) flying around.