The Stars of Bugs!
Papilio Memnon, a.k.a. Great Mormon, is a large, striking butterfly with a wingspan of up to 6 inches (as big as your hand). The female’s wings are colorfully patterned with red, black and white, while the male butterflies are black with metallic blue streaks on the upper surface of their wings. They are found in Southeast Asia in open country as well as forest, though females tend to be confined to the forest. They start life alone, because the females lay eggs singly on citrus leaves such as pomelo, lime or lemon, their host plants. The caterpillar hatches about a week after the egg is laid and is only two to three millimeters long. The caterpillar spends the next five to six weeks of its life eating and growing as it goes through five molts until it is about two inches long and almost as thick as your thumb. The fifth and final molt is the start of the pupation period in which the body is broken down into a “soup” and reorganized into a new head, body, legs and wings, forming a new butterfly. The whole process takes about two weeks. When the adult butterfly emerges, its task is to find a mate, and if female, lay eggs. This mission is interrupted only by frequent stops to drink nectar from flowers as it refuels for the energy demands of flying, mating and laying eggs.
Hierodula Membranacea, a.k.a. Green Mantis, is a large, classic-looking praying mantis that can grow up to 4 inches long. They are found across Southeast Asia in a variety of habitats. Mantis nymphs, the name given to the subadults, are born as miniature versions of the adults, each poking through a series of exit holes around the egg sac, shared by as many as 200 other nymphs. At this stage, they are only half a centimeter long and look like ants from a distance. This is a handy trick as most birds—their most likely predators—seldom eat ants. They shed their skins as they grow and start to develop wing buds at each successive molt. At their final molt, their wings are fully formed to meet the challenges of adulthood—finding a mate. The females are heftier than the males. The males have the delicate and dangerous task of mating with the females, who are known to eat the males even as they mate. The females store the sperm for a few weeks until their abdomens swell, indicating the eggs are ready to be laid. The risky business of laying eggs is often done under the cover of darkness as the female carefully chooses a site to lay her eggs. The eggs are contained in a foamy material produced in her abdomen, which hardens to form a weatherproof, protective case that safeguards her offspring until they are ready to hatch.
