The Next.........

............Stage
 

This caterpillar has just shed its skin – that is the black at the top of the leaf.

- Each caterpillar, or instar, goes through five major stages of growth and after each one, it moults.
- The banding patterns apparently change with each moult, but as I haven’t followed this process in detail, I’m not sure which of the five stages this caterpillar has reached.
- Next summer I will be watching the caterpillars and their changes closely and comparing – and photographing!
This is another photo for the Monarch Butterfly series which can be found by clicking on the tag below.
 
Many thanks for all the recent comments, stars and hearts. I appreciate them all and apologise for not keeping up with comments at the moment.

I was thrilled to receive one of the five hearts given by the host of the MonoMonday challenge for my 'Water' blip. Thank you very much, notowennewitt.