An Unexpected Gap Moe: A Summer Encounter (Part 1)
Lately, my heart has been completely captured by these little ones.
What's more, the object of my affection is something I had spent my whole life thinking, "I'd rather not see that if I can help it."
I never imagined, not even for a millimeter, that I would become so interested that I'd keep going back to see them.
Our encounter began with a plant growing by the concrete edge of a parking lot.
When I got close, intending to pull it out, I spotted something brown moving on a leaf. As I looked closer, I saw a caterpillar with a mysterious pattern 🐛
I immediately used my smartphone's camera search, and the result was "Common Mormon 4th instar larva."
Common Mormon? 4th instar?
When I looked it up further, I found it was the common swallowtail butterfly I see all the time.
It seems the larvae go through repeated molting until they become butterflies, reaching the 5th instar.
The 4th instar mimics bird droppings and has brown and white patterns. Even though the 2nd to 4th instars look the same in the search results, my smartphone camera insists it's a 4th instar. Can it really be that certain? A simple question remains.
If you're interested, please take a look at the photos below 👇
If you can't handle it, please just scroll past 😅
Tap here to see the 4th instar
With the next molt, it finally reaches the final stage: the green 5th instar.
I couldn't believe it would turn into a green caterpillar next, so I ended up wanting to see it through to the end...
It's something that often happens to humans, too—"a love that started from dislike."
It turns out it wasn't limited to just people.
By the time you finish reading this, you might find yourself searching the leaves in nature, too.
I plan to write about this in several parts.
I hope you'll join me on this journey 😊