Wild Utah photos of Butterflies, butterfly, Lepidoptera, Common Wood Nymph, ova, Larvae and pupae, immatures- cercyonis pegala paludum, females ex. August 2, 2007, Goodenough Creek, 4.6 miles West of McCammon, Bannock County, Idaho

Common Wood-Nymph
Cercyonis pegala paludum
Immatures

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Ova

Larva Development

Larva #1 on August 21, 2007
1st instar the day after it eclosed from egg.

Dorsal view of first instar - September 23, 2007
dorsal - 2nd instar

Lateral view of first instar - September 23, 2007
2nd instar

Larvae hatched August 20, 2007.
Larva #1 began feeding September 17, 2007
Second instar on September 26, 2007
2nd Instar - September 26, 2007

3rd Instar formed September 30, 2007- Photo taken October 2, 2007

Molted to 4th October 6th then to 5th instar on October 12th
photos taken October 15, 2007
Dorsal
5th instar, dorsal

Lateral

PUPAE DEVELOPMENT

#1 Pupa - Ventral - October 24th	#1 Pupa - Lateral - October 24th
#1 Pupa - Ventral 3:30 P.M. November 5th	#1 Pupa - Lateral - 3:30 P.M. November 5th
#1 Pupa - Ventral 9:50 P.M. November 5th 2 hours 15 minutes before butterfy eclosed	#1 Pupa - Lateral 9:50 P.M. November 5th 2 hours 15 minutes before butterfy eclosed
#4 Pupa formed November 10, 2007 with quite different colors in an effort to blend in with its surroundings. Some of these pupae were green and some were similar to the one shown below
Ventral	Lateral

Photo Details - ©Nicky Davis
Female collected by Todd L. Stout - August 2, 2007 - Goodenough Creek, 4.6 miles West of McCammon, Bannock County, Idaho. Of 16 eggs, 12 hatched August 20, 2007. Larva #1 was not placed in diapause for three weeks, but the others were. #1 began feeding September 17, 2007.

Ova
August 7, 2007

Larva
Molted to 4th October 6th then to 5th instar on October 12th, photos taken October 15, 2007
Molted to third instar on September 30th, photo taken October 2, 2007
1. Second instar #1 on September 26, 2007, the same day it molted.
2., 3. Dorsal and lateral views of first instar on September 23, 2007 after it had been eating for six days.
4. First instar #1 August 21st, a day after hatching

Pupa
On october 21st this larva stopped feeding and began swinging it's head around and walking up and down the grass blades.
It was placed into a pupation container and formed a pupa at noon on October 23rd.

This caterpillar fed for about 40 days and the pupa eclosed after about 13 days.

Description
1 7/8 - 2 11/16 "
Dorsal
Brown with prominent nearly equal eyespots in the forewing submargin in Rs-M1 and in Cu1-Cu2 and may or may not have paler areas surrounding the eyespots.(This one has a hint of an orange wash about half way around the eyespots) Females may also have an eyespot at the anal angle of the hindwing, larger and more developed forewing eyespots and may be paler overall.

Ventral
Male and female may have up to 6 eyespots on the ventral hindwing which are ringed with yellow. Postmedian dark band on forewing goes up further than the top eyespot.

Univoltine in the north but bi or multivoltine in the south. Hibernation is as first instar larva.

Habitat
They can be found in grasslands, open woodlands and at edges of woods up to 10,500 feet

Host
Grasses. This one was started on Bluegrass.

Time spent as
Larva - 40 days
Pupa - 13 days