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Tawny Emperor – the end of the saga
Hi Lisa Anne and Daniel,
After a longer break, I want to keep my promise and send the last pictures of the Tawny Emperor (Asterocampa clyton) to you. They were a bit difficult to take, because the pharate pupal stage always appeared early in the morning. The pupa is a female, while the butterfly on the pictures is a male.

I want to add a little story here: In the beginning of June I went at night with a flashlight into the forest nearby my house and checked on approximately 10 trees for Asterocampa caterpillars. I found nearly 200 caterpillars in total of both species (celtis and clyton), sitting and eating on the underside of hackberry leafes. It was just amazing how many they were. If you try to find the sister species (Apatura iris or Apatura ilia) in Europe, you can consider yourself lucky to find one caterpillar in a year. OK, have a great time, and I will keep you updated when I breed new exciting species.
Best wishes,
Thomas
Thomas Werner, PhD
Madison, WI

Hi again Thomas,
Thank you so much for completing the saga of the Tawny Emperor. We eagerly await next spring to see what new species you will send our way.

Related Posts

1. Red Spotted Purple Pupa and Butterfly: The Saga Continues!! (May 13, 2006)
2. Polyphemus Moth (May 19, 2006)
3. Metamorphosis of the Hackberry Emperor (May 25, 2006)
4. Tawny Emperor Metamorphosis (May 21, 2006)
5. Tawny Emperor (September 29, 2009)