Pained Lady Butterflies
Spring of 2006
We raised these Painted Lady butterflies in captivity,
in the spring of 2006, and then released them.
The chrysalis' from opposite sides:
This butterfly is from the chrysalis above that
is semi-transparent already (on the left in the left photo above,
and on the right in the right photo above). The right photo shows
it releasing the red fluid after it emerged:
 
This is the second butterfly. It appears to have
two proboscis. A biologist from the university explained
that the proboscis initially is in two halves tubes, that the
butterfly pushes together with it's front legs, to make one tube,
which it uses to suck liquid. He said that this butterfly probably
was unable to get it's proboscis together, and it would be unable
to eat, so it would only live for day or two, on the energy already
stored in it's body.
If you click on the photo below to get a larger
photo, the two parts of the proboscis are quite obvious.
The photo on the left is oriented correctly
- it was standing on the vertical wall of a cardboard box. The
right photo is rotated 90 degrees clockwise, because it seems
easier to see it that way:
In the sunshine it's wings opened:
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