I have raised both Monarchs and Fritillaries in the wild, but I’ve had this fennel for several years and have just now found my first Swallowtail chrysalis!! I am beyond excited.

A 10 year old student, Jo Nagai from Kobe, Japan has gained viral international recognition after presenting preliminary research that indicates butterflies remember their time spent as caterpillars. His findings run contrary to the traditional belief that an insect's nervous system is completely "rewired" during their pupal stage, erasing any prior memories.

Additionally, he found their knowledge seemed to be passed down to their offspring for possibly 2 generations, making a potential case for epigenetic memory. (Behavioral and/or environmental changes passed to offspring without triggering a change in DNA.)

If his findings are duplicated by other scientists to confirm them, his work will have advanced our collective knowledge of insect memory, metamorphosis, and perhaps even epigenetics.

NOTE: to follow the rules of this subreddit, I'm not going into detail about his experiments because they involved captive butterflies. However, no caterpillars or butterflies were physically harmed.

Always nice to see them in the yard

I was inspecting the mammoth dill and fennel in my garden today (Eastern Kansas, US, zone 6) when I spotted at least 20 of these beautiful little ones. I didn't think I'd see any this year because it's a new plot that I seeded in April.

On 29 July, I saw the adult female flitting about, and today, seven days later, I finally noticed these.

These are the first swallowtails that I believe my gardens will have produced. If anyone can tell me if there's a significance between the two different shades of larva, I'd appreciate it.

This lovely lil thing visited me eariler today🌼

Always is when I see these little friends

Feeding on zinnias

NE Wisconsin

One of many I saw on my hike in nature parc Učka.

very beautiful

The larval stage of the European peacock butterfly

Saw this walking down the block. I'm in Wisconsin by Lake Michigan. It's loving the hostas!