It happened last year and this was happening now. I was wondering. My lovely little Kalanchoe blosfeldiana plant was suddenly becoming ugly and leaves changing colour. I had guessed it was overwatering or some behaviour of the plant itself. It had grown back. This time, I took the pot [ small one] up in my hand and took a close look. There was something in the leaves!!




The fleshy green leaves were becoming transparent. When I held the plant leaves to the sun, I could see that and the tiny poops revealed it:






There were larvae inside, eating the chlorophyll, going inside... I had seen the leaves being cut and eaten, with holes, but not something like this! They were happily feeding on the leaves, hiding from predators. I guessed they would be of a grass blue butterfly and today, I checked they were indeed, the larvae of Pale Grass Blues which are common in my yard. I had seen two pairs mate in the last one week.




The leaves would grow back slowly, but in the fear, I removed them. Next time, I'll leave them alone.

Great photographs! And thanks for sharing your story. I never knew a caterpillar would go inside the leaves like that. Very interesting stuff!

Thanks Melanie. Do you know a rose petal can also be separated like that into two layers? In school we used to play with the rose petals from which we used make a little whistling sound by blowing it at the spot where the petal was plucked. It would puff up a bit.

Thisis very intersting to see! Dino, thanks for sharing.

I didn't know that about rose petals, either! They're hard to grow in Florida because of the heat and humidity. I'm just learning all sorts of new stuff here!

@vitrsna, do see this larva.
I too learnt stuff like 'host plants of butterflies' and the likes here!