Phaon Crescent (Phyciodes phaon) life history
Phaon Crescent (Phyciodes phaon) Life History


Egg mass, 7-12-10

Ready to eclose, 7-15-10
         

Hatchlings on day one, 7-16-10
     

7-19-10
     

7-21-10
     

7-25-10
     

Mature caterpillar, 7-26-10
     

A caterpillar ready to pupate, 7-27-10

Chrysalis (different from left), 7-27-10
     

Fresh Phaon Crescent, dorsal, 7-31-10
     

Fresh Phaon Crescent, ventral, 7-31-10
 

As memory serves (this writing is 6 months after the event), I collected these eggs after observing a female Phaon Crescent deposit them on Frog fruit, Phyla nodiflora. The eggs eclosed 4 days later, and I soon had a large number of caterpillars. Every so often I would release about half of them to the flower bed, so that in the end I only raised a half-dozen to maturity. The caterpillars took 10-12 days to pupate, and the adults emerged 4-5 days later.


Face of Phaon Crescent
caterpillar

A comparison of various crescent caterpillars may be seen here.

Phaon Crescent Page