Witness to a Transformation

I didn't do a full bug walk today. Between the wind, the on-and-off drizzle, and the extremely uncooperative bugs, I said, "I GIVE UP," and stormed into the house after I had barely started.

And that is how I came to see this:

 Finally! The last of I think 30 caterpillars raised in my dining room this year, and I finally happened to have perfect timing (thanks to abandoning my bug walk in a huff), and was able to see the transformation of the caterpillar into a chrysalis! Here you see the caterpillar/pupa-to-be slowly wriggling out of its skin to reveal the not-yet-shaped chrysalis underneath.

Backyard Bug of the Day!

 Yes, yes, I have already had a monarch chrysalis as a Backyard Bug of the Day this year, but by my own rules for choosing a BBotD, I can feature the same species in different life stages. This happens to be a very short life stage, that between caterpillar and chrysalis, but here it is.  Here the skin has been almost completely shed, and is bunched up at the top.

 The pupa (I don't know what the name is for it in this particular state, so I am going to call it the pupa) thrashes about quite vigorously at this point to get free of the skin.

 The skin has been dislodged, and is falling...

 Free!

 There is still some wriggling for a while, as the pupa contracts in size.

 That top, ridged section has to completely accordion shut, which makes for the expansion joints that pop just before the butterfly ecloses, though they only gap a little bit, it won't look like this again.

 The nearly-final shape. It just has to smooth out a bit.

The final chrysalis.

Today there was an eclosure as well:

 Another female. 2 weeks ago there were ten eclosures and 8 of them were male. This week there have been 4, and they were all female.

 I thought she was going to fly right away, but she didn't. I placed her on a nearby tree, and she was still there a few hours later, though she did shift from hanging under a leaf to sitting on top, and I suspect she flew away shortly after.

Other Bugs:

 The world's laziest caterpillar temporarily shifted positions on the leaf, lying more sideways...

 ... but later it shifted back (the leaf is sideways in this picture). The new caterpillar (lower left) lives under a silk tent, and has stuck this leaf to the one next to it (which is why the leaf is sideways in this picture). The new guy seems like kind of a pushy roommate, coming in and making changes. But Lazy doesn't seem to mind.

Grasshopper on goldenrod

 Wasp on goldenrod, shortly before I gave up trying to take pictures of bugs on goldenrod in the high winds (not that they were anywhere near as high as the forecast had said we might expect from Tropical Storm Jose).

 

 Rove beetle

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 I think this might be a spider egg sac?