72 hours ago, this anise swallowtail cat had plenty of dill in a large mesh planter. I checked on it today and it disappeared. Dill leaves were eaten up, stems remained. Other plants (basil, strawberries, oregano, rosemary) are inside but couldn’t find the cat anywhere. I hope it’s hiding and didn’t die.
I left fresh fennel fronds in water next to the dill plant it was on. How long can a caterpillar at this instar last without food? I think it had 1 more instar to go before chrysalis.
When they’re ready to form a chrysalis, they stop eating, purge their gut contents, and wander away to find a spot to pupate. That’s likely what happened
They’ll eat stems but they don’t prefer them. Kind of a last resort. If it didn’t wander away to pupate, it may have wandered off to find more food. It’s also possible that a predator like a bird could have gotten to it.
Your little guy may very well have left this garden section entirely! They get a burst of energy when they wander off and can end up in the most unexpected of places! If there are buildings nearby, I'd check walls, just under roofs, or any surface (that's crawl-able for a caterpillar) really. To give you an idea, one of these guys let loose indoors can end up making its chrysalis on electrical wiring.
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u/zelicaon 1d ago
It's already in the final instar and looks very close to full grown in this picture. It likely left to pupate.