Ok...pay attention...vocabulary words below:
instar - An instar is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (ecdysis), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or assume a new form. Differences between instars can often be seen in altered body proportions or changes in the number of body segments. Some arthropods can continue to molt after sexual maturity, but these subsequent molts are generally not called instars.
For most insect species the term "instar" is used to denote the developmental stage of the larval or nymphal forms of holometabolous (complete metamorphism) or hemimetabolous (incomplete metamorphism) insects, but the term can be used to describe any developmental stage including pupa or imago (the adult, which does not molt in insects).
larva - the immature, wingless, and often wormlike feeding form that hatches from the egg of many insects, alters chiefly in size while passing through several molts, and is finally transformed into a pupa or chrysalis from which the adult emerges
Ok, so with the above in mind....
When I went outside yesterday and saw those little black worms, in addition to the green-ish caterpillars I decided to google the whole "which caterpillar is this" thing.
As I mentioned yesterday, I determined that this is all about the black swallowtail butterfly.The first thing we notice on the parsley plant are the eggs. An example of this is illustrated at left.
The first "instar" are the larvae that are black with a white stripe across the mid-section. These are the little wormy-things that I noticed yesterday morning. These little guys shed their skins a couple of times before they look like the caterpillars I noticed on Friday.
It doesn't seem that it takes too long for one of these little guys to change clothes. In fact, I saw one shedding (or moulting) yesterday afternoon. He/she was about halfway done when I noticed, ran in and told my husband and when we came out a few moments later, he/she seemedd to be almost done.
After a couple of these quick changes, the little black and white wormy-things with the white belts turn into these really vibrant caterpillars. I ran out to the pet supply store to get a ten gallon terrarium and lid and placed the entire potted parsley (host plant, as we covered yesterday), and a few twigs, just in case one or both of our cool little caterpillars decided they wanted to attach themselves and do the whole pupa-thing. :)
So, that's it for now. I'll be watching all our little buggy friends over the next weeks and will photograph any major changes.
I hope you enjoyed, thus far. :)
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