Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2020 August 11

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August 11

Problems with Butterfly Metamorphosis

Hi Reference Desk, I have a question regarding problems or failures with caterpillars morphing into a butterfly. My GF gave me a Butterfly kit that comes with 5 caterpillars in a cup. They eat the peanut butter looking stuff in the cup and grow. After a week or so, they climb up to the lid, hang from their tail end, and start to turn into chrysalides. The smallest caterpillar (we called him "the runt") was the last to hang, about 2 days behind the first. It didn't seem to fully encase in the chrysalide. Then, rather quickly, like a day or so, it developed a butterfly-looking face and I think I can see butterfly-like legs too. Once they are all hanging, you're to take the lid off the jar and snap it into a plastic log thing vertically. Then you're supposed to use a q-tip and clear away the webbing around the chrysalides. While I was doing that, a couple started vibrating (not the runt). Apparently that's a natural behavior to ward off possible predators. Between the vibrating chrysalides and my removal off the webbing (I was being gentle!), the runt fell off the lid. I took some pics of it because of how strange / different it looks from the rest. Then I put it back in the enclosure, just in case. However, I guess that something went wrong with its metamorphosis process and it's already dead. So finally to my question: Where can I find info relating to natural failures and problems with butterfly metamorphosis? Perhaps even causes, whether genetic (like growth disorders) or induced by outside pressures (parasites, disease, improper handling, etc.) Thank you!

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  Painted Lady Butterfly Chrysalides. Odd one is 2nd from right
• 
  Painted Lady Butterfly Chrysalides. Odd one is 2nd from right
• 
  This is the odd one after falling off the lid.
• 
  This is the odd one after falling off the lid.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1702:2EA0:7AE0:253D:9C2:BA56:527E (talk) 00:19, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

Just to be clear - were these five different types of caterpillar? If they're different species, the "runt" might be functioning normally, just differently than the others. Matt Deres (talk) 13:47, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

These are all supposed to be Painted Lady Butterflies (I'm OP) BiglyHoax (talk) 17:39, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

BiglyHoax, I'm afraid I'm in a hurry so could only throw together this shortlist of general resources rather trying to more closely scrutinize your particular situation here and give you more targeted information, but some of this may be of use to you--although it must be said that these also run the gamut in terms of both detail and easy accessibility, depending on your background in microbiology, entomology and pathology generally. Some of it is also particularized to specific species, but I left some of these in where they would seem to provide you with information that may be useful to you. There's a huge amount of amateur resources/guides for rearing butterflies (included some targeted towards Painted Ladies in particular), that you can find with a google search, but none of those which I had the time to quickly scrutinize on this occasion seem to speak directly to the kind of developmental pathology you are looking at here or a likely cause. Nevertheless, I hope some of the items included here are of help: Lepidoptera is one of the most widely studied of all insect orders, so there is a wealth of information out there, if one knows where to look: if I can find the time later, I will attempt to augment this list and provide more nuanced observations of my own as to what may have gone wrong with your little friend. Let us know how the others do, and if you have the equipment for it, consider taking some photos for Commons, if you think they may be of use. :)

[1], [2], [3], [4], Commercial butterfly breeding#Disease, parasite and predator controls. As a final note, there are many many butterfly conservatories out there whom you might consider reaching out to regarding your new interest and who will no doubt be able to direct you to particularly useful resources: some prominent ones are listed towards the end of that last article in the list. Snow ^{let's rap} 17:39, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

FYI, given that the caterpillar was viable but underdeveloped and then faltered at the pupation stage, I would consider looking first to the possibility of a gut microbe, of which there are many bacterial and fungal varieties which parasitize butterflies. But there really is a wide span of potential explanations here. Snow ^{let's rap} 17:49, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Trails in cloud apparently left by fork lightning?

Hello, Yesterday evening I heard thunder in the distance and looking out I saw what had the appearance of fork lightning beneath a black cloud. However, this wasn't a strike and these trails persisted for several minutes before gradually fading away.

What might have given rise to this phenomenon? And does it have a name?

If it's relevant, I'm in the UK and it had been a very hot and humid day (for the UK, that is!).

Thanks Hexane2000 (talk) 16:39, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

What I see there is not lightning but the edges of several clouds lit up by the sun almost from behind. This is easy to see at the max enlargement, especially after having set the gamma correction to something like 0.22. At the min enlargement these tracks really look like the trail of a lightning. 2003:F5:6F0C:E600:2DB6:994C:6322:3DD2 (talk) 17:25, 11 August 2020 (UTC) Marco PB