ツマグロヒョウモン

芝生の上にツマグロヒョウモンの終齢幼虫を見つけました。数日後近くのコンクリートの擁壁にそのサナギを見つけました。おそらくは同じ個体だと思われます。

ツマグロヒョウモンはスミレを食草としますが、親は必ずしもスミレに卵を産まず、他の草（ここでは多くの場合芝）に産卵します。孵化した小さな幼虫がどのようにしてスミレまでたどり着けるのかは謎ですが、この幼虫はスミレをすぐに食べ尽くして徘徊し、他のスミレの株を見つける徘徊するイモムシです。

幼虫は赤と黒の毒々しい色、多数の針のような恐ろしげな肉角を持っていますが、きわめて無害なイモムシです。サナギも幼虫に似て棘だらけですが、胸の部分に金色に光る鋲のような突起があり大変美しいです。

I found the last instar larvae of the tsumaguro hyomon, or Indian fritillary (Argynnis hyperbius), on the lawn. A few days later, there was its pupa on a nearby concrete retaining wall. It was probably the same individual.

Although violets are the main food plant of this species, the mother butterflies do not necessarily lay their eggs on violets, but rather on other grasses (in this case, lawn grass). How the tiny hatched larvae get to the violets is a mystery, but these larvae are wandering caterpillars that quickly devour the violets and roam around, finding other violet plants.

The larvae are seemingly venomous red and black in color, with numerous scary needle-like flesh horns, but in reality, are extremely harmless caterpillars. The pupa, like the larva, is covered with thorns, but is also very beautiful, with golden stud-like projections on its chest.

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photo 2021-09-18＆20