Life Cycle: Common Banded Peacock
Host Plant: Chloroxylon swietenia
Common Banded Peacock (Papilio crino Fabricius, 1793) is
a brightly colored butterfly resembling our National Bird
Peacock. This butterfly is a fast flyer, very commonly seen
is many parts of Tamil Nadu. The early stages of this
butterfly underwent 3 stages of metamorphosis namely
egg, caterpillar and chrysalis.
Egg
Eggs are laid mostly on the top-most tender branches
Chloroxylon swietenia tree.
First and Second Instar
First instar caterpillar is dark greenish white colored with a pair of abdominal white line marking. A pair of yellowish brown
lateral spines can be found on each of the three thoracic segments and the last two anal segments. The spines at the first
thoracic segment and last anal segment are larger in size. During second instar, the head portion gets enlarged, lateral
spines get reduces in size, the abdominal white line marking gets dull.
Third Instar
The third instar caterpillar looks
similar to second instar. Third instar
caterpillar fades in colour and
slowly turns greenish yellow. Except
the spines at the first thoracic
segment and last anal segment all
other spines on the body gets
reduced in size drastically. The
abdominal white line begins to thin
and finally fades away. At the end of
third instar stage the caterpillar
remains inactive for 2 or 3 days
without feeding on the leaves.
Fourth and Final Instar
During fourth instar, the
caterpillar completely changes
its colour to pale green. The
abdominal line and spines
disappear. The white head
marking line is formed.
During fifth or final instar, the
caterpillar feeds on leaves at
faster rates. At the end of fifth
instar, the caterpillar gradually
shortens in length and
searches around for a safe
pupation site.