So over on the butterfly thread, everyone has been tracking these mystery caterpillars I'm raising on Desmodium incanum. They're either Ceraunus Blues or Gray Hairstreaks but I'm kind of leaning toward the Blues. However, I had a surprise today when I was checking the container. A tiny flying thing was in there. Now, a few days back I did have a small green caterpillar pupate on one of the leaves. I thought it was smaller than the other cats but it didn't occur to me that it was an entirely different species. Keep in mind, these things are the size of a grain of rice.
My first thought was that it was some kind of parasite and I sort of panicked. But I managed to get it on my finger and take some pictures and I thought maybe it was a type of moth. I'd send it to BAMONA but honestly, I wanted to make sure it was a moth and not some kind of other insect first. So really, if you just want to tell me it's a moth, that's fine. If you happen to know the family or suspect a species, that would be helpful, too. Now, let's look at some pictures!
This is the pupa.
And this is what emerged today.
