Evening Brown Butterfly

Queensland Museum Collection Imager, Geoff Thompson was picking some grass for guinea pigs when he found a beautiful caterpillar with two prominent horns on its head. He took some phone photos and took it inside, feeding it grass to keep it alive. It was a caterpillar of the Evening Brown Butterfly.

The next day he found a second caterpillar on the floor near the guinea pigs. This joined the first in the jar.

Within five days, both had pupated. One pupa (or chrysalis) went brown and produced a fly pupa on the bottom of the jar, while the second one stayed green. Ten days after pupating the second pupa emerged. The beautiful new butterfly pumped up its wings and hung down letting them harden. He carefully balanced the jar lid on a support outside so the butterfly could hang there freely. After a couple of hours, it flew away.

The next morning there was one perching in a nearby tree and we found a second one in the guinea pig room. Seven days later the fly emerged and now other adult butterflies continue to emerge in the clump of grass.