Butterflies of

Singapore
A Tribute to Nature's Flying Jewels

19 November 2011

Life History of the Lime Butterfly

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Life History of the Lime Butterfly

(Papilio demoleus malayanus)

Butterfly Biodata:
Genus: Papilio Linnaeus, 1758
Species: demoleus Linnaeus, 1758
Subspecies: malayanus Wallace, 1865
Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 60-80mm

Caterpillar Local Host Plants: Citrus microcarpa

(Rutaceae), Citrus maxima (Rutaceae, common name:
Pomelo), Citrus aurantifolia (Rutaceae, common name:
Lime) and other Citrus spp., Ruta graveolens
(Rutaceae, common name: Herb-of-grace).

A male Lime Butterfly.

A female Lime Butterfly.

Physical Description of Adult Butterfly:

Above, both sexes are black with yellow spots and
markings, some of which forming an irregular and
intermittent macular band running across the forewing
to the mid-dorsum of the hindwing. A submarginal
series of smaller yellow spots can be found on both
wings. In space 1b on the hindwing, there is a red spot
in both sexes. In the male, this spot is capped with a
narrow blue lunule with a very narrow intervening black
gap. In contrast, the red spot and the blue lunule in the
female have a rather large black spot between them.
Underneath, both sexes are mostly yellow with black
streaks and irregularly-shaped spots. On the hindwing,
several black spots are lined with blue striae. There is
a series of orange post-discal bars on both hind- and
forewings.

Field Observations of Butterfly Behaviour:

Lime Butterfly is rather common in Singapore and can
be found in both forested and urban areas in
Singapore. The fast flying adults are frequently seen in
flights in and around residential areas, often visiting
flowers growing in gardens and potted plants in
common areas outside houses/flats. The females can
also be seen making ovipoisiting visits to the many
Citrus plants, cultivated or wild, in the residential
neighbourhood. The hyper-active adults are easier to
approach for photographic captures during the cooler
hours in the morning and late afternoon, when they
retire to rest among the foliage.

Early Stages:
The local host plants include a number of species in
the Rutaceae family, with majority belonging to the
Citrus genus. The caterpillars of the Lime Butterfly
feed on the young to middle-aged leaves of the host
plants.

Host plant : Citrus aurantifolia.

A mating pair of the Lime Butterfly.

The eggs of the Lime Butterfly are laid singly on the

young stem, the petiole or the underside of leaves of
the host plant. The egg is pale creamy yellow with a
finely roughened surface. It is nearly spherical with a
diameter of about 1.1-1.2mm.

A mother Lime Butterfly about to oviposit on a lime plant.

Two views of an egg of Lime Butterfly, diameter: 1.1-1.2mm

Two views of a mature egg of the Lime Butterfly.

The egg takes about 2.5-3 days to hatch. The young

caterpillar eats its way out of the mature egg, and then
proceeds to finish up the rest of the egg shell. The
newly hatched has a body length of about 2.75mm and
has a rather spiky appearance caused by bands of
spiky processes which are longer dorso-laterally and
much shorter laterally. Overall the body is yellowish
brown dorsally and darker brown laterally. The head is
dark brown.

Two views of a new hatched caterpillar nibbling at the egg shell.

The first 4 instars of the Lime Butterfly resemble bird

droppings with the resemblance in the 3rd and 4th
instars being closer due to the body taking on a slimy
appearance. As the 1st instar caterpillar grows up to a
length of about 5mm, the whitish saddle patch on the
3rd-4th abdominal segments become more evident.
After about 2.5-3 days in 1st instar, the caterpillar
moults to the next instar.

Two views of a 1st instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 4.8mm

The 2nd instar caterpillar has a similar appearance to

the late 1st instar caterpillar except for the more
prominent whitish saddle. As the caterpillar grows,
small whitish patches appear laterally on the first two
thoracic segments. This instar lasts about 2 days with
the body length reaching up to 10mm before the next
moult.

Two views of a 2nd instar caterpillar, newly moulted, length: 4mm

Two views of a 2nd instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 7mm

The 3rd instar caterpillar has whitish lateral patches on

the anterior and posterior body segments. The white
saddle is more extensive and prominent than in the
two previous instars. This instar takes about 2 days to
complete with the body length reaching up to 16mm.

Two views of a 3rd instar caterpillar, early in this stage, length: 10.5mm

Two views of a 3rd instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 16mm

The 4th instar caterpillar resembles the late 3rd instar

caterpillar initially but with a more slimy appearance
and a ground colour which is in darker brown. This
penultimate instar lasts about 2-2.5 days with body
length reaching about 25mm.

Two views of a 4th instar caterpillar, newly moulted, length: 15.5mm

Two views of a 4th instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 25mm

The next moult brings the caterpillar to its 5th and final
instar with a drastic change in appearance. There are
two lateral eye spots near the leading edge of the third
thoracic segment with a milky brown transverse band
linking them. Another transverse band can be found at
the posterior edge of the same body segment. A long
oblique bar, dark brown in colour, stretches from the
base of the 4th abdominal segment to the dorsum of
the 5th abdominal segment. A much shorter bar can
be found in the 6th abdominal segment. Round dorso-
lateral marks, variable in size, can be found on the 6th
to the 8th abdominal segments. After the moult to 5th
instar, the body ground color is initially mottled
yellowish green, but this changes gradually to a
uniform green or yellowish green after about 0.5 day.

Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, freshly moulted, length: 23mm.

Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 41mm

Two views of another 5th instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length:
39mm

As in the case of all Swallowtail butterflies, the Lime

Butterfly caterpillars in all instars possess a fleshy
organ called osmeterium in the prothoracic segment.
Usually hidden, the osmeterium can be everted to emit
a foul-smelling secretion when the caterpillar is
threatened.

The 5th instar lasts for about 3.5-4 days, and the body
length reaches up to 41mm. Toward the end of this
instar, the body gradually shortens in length. Eventually
the caterpillar comes to rest on the under surface of a
stem or a leaf. Here it stays dormant for a while before
performing a purge of loose and wet frass pellets. It
then spins a silk pad and a silk girdle to become an
immobile pre-pupatory larva.

A pre-pupatory larva of the Lime Butterfly.

A Lime Butter+y c…

A Lime Butterfly caterpillar molts to its pupal stage.

Pupation takes place a day later. The pupa suspends

itself with a silk girdle from the substrate. There are two
color forms. In the green form, the pupa is is mainly
green with a large yellowish diamond-shaped patch on
the dorsum of the abdominal segments.. In the brown
form, the pupa is mainly greyish brown with dark
patches. Each pupa has a pair of cephalic horns, a
dorsal thoracic hump and is angled in side view.
Length of pupae: 30-32mm.

Two views of a Lime Butterfly pupa, brown form.

Two views of a Lime Butterfly pupa, green form.

After 9 days of development, the pupa turns black as

the development within the pupal case comes to an
end. The yellowish spots and band on the forewing
becomes visible through the pupal case. The next day
the adult butterfly emerges from the pupal case. The
beautiful undersides of its wings are fully displayed as
it dries its wings for the first one to two hours after
eclosion.

Two views of a mature pupa.

A Lime Butter+y e…

A Lime Butterfly adult emerges from its pupal case.

A newly eclosed Lime Butterfly clinging onto its pupal case.

References:
[C&P4] The Butterflies of The Malay Peninsula, A.S. Corbet and H.M.

Pendlebury, 4th Edition, Malayan Nature Society.

Butterflies of Thailand, Pisuth Ek-Amnuay, 1st Edition, 2006

Text by Horace Tan, Photos by Tan Keyang, Bobby Mun, Loke PF,
Sunny Chir, Khew SK and Horace Tan

Horace at 5:40 PM

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150 comments:

Dee 4/6/12 6:16 PM

Love your blog!

Recently we grew a lime caterpillar into a beautiful

butterfly too.

http://prunenurture.com/?p=3836

Link up your post to my blog. Hope this is ok.

Reply

Horace 4/6/12 10:06 PM

Thanks, Dee. :)
Certainly we have no problem with you placing a link to
our blog article.

It is nice to know that you and your family enjoyed your

time with that Lime caterpillar/butterfly. :)
Reply

Unknown 10/11/12 1:25 AM

Fantastic blog, love your videos! Great documentation
and the write-up is very informative!!

My preschoolers will definitely go wooo and waahh.

We've 5 chrysalis in the classroom, one just popped
and we named it Isabelle before freeing it in the
garden...yap! Very exciting, thank you all for your
wonderful work ;]
Reply

Horace 11/11/12 9:45 PM

Thanks, Serena for the kind words. :)

It is nice to know young kids these days have teachers

like you who give them a head start in nature watching
and strive to make preschool days as joyful as possible
for them. Great work! Selena.
Reply

akmar shakilla 19/11/12 8:10 AM

can i ask?why some journal said the color of third,
fourth and fifth instar is green color?
Reply

Horace 19/11/12 2:09 PM

Hi Akmar, could you quote the referenced journal
article which stated the said coloration of the larvae in
3rd, 4th and 5th instar?
It would be interesting to note and compare the sample
sets in terms of geographical distribution and other
environmental factors which might play a part.
Reply

akmar shakilla 22/11/12 5:42 PM

actually it quite confusing..especially the picture..can
you take a look and explain to me?maybe i
misunderstood somewhere there..thank you :-)
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in786
Reply

Horace 23/11/12 3:00 PM

It seems to me that the author at that site mis-labelled
the figure with the three final instar larvae at those of
3rd, 4th and 5th instar larvae.
Reply

akmar shakilla 29/11/12 9:11 AM

i do think so..btw, thanks :)
Reply

liangrui 25/9/13 12:10 AM

there is a lime butterfly pupa on my door!i saw it
wiggling after shaking off its head... expect a Butterfree
in 9 days!
Reply

Horace 25/9/13 12:43 PM

Hi liangrui,
Interesting that the caterpillar chose to pupate on your
door. :)
Thanks for sharing.
Reply

Unknown 27/4/14 1:03 AM

I found a pupa in BC Canada. interesting read.
Reply

Horace 27/4/14 8:49 PM

Thanks, Robin. :)
It would be interesting to see the adult emerging from
that pupa.
Reply

Royal Naning 16/5/14 10:16 AM

Hi this morning just saw three of the caterpillars at first I
thought was a Common Mormon but later when I surf
your blog I now get the picture it is Lime Butterfly and
yes the caterpillars are enjoing chewing the lime leaves
would they be greedy to eat all the leaves? Curious
man who wants to know :)
Reply

Horace 17/5/14 5:12 PM

Hi Royal Naning, the caterpillars will eat whatever
amount of leaves they need to grow through the larval
stage. Hence it is possible that they eat up all the
leaves if the plant is "small" and does not have
sufficient leaves for them. :)
Reply

Unknown 1/6/14 4:36 PM

Hi I am in need of a quick Butterfly lifesaving