At the crucial time in the Purple calendar, the weather collapses...
The shorter time iris spends pupating and in the pupal period, the more fly; the longer, the fewer. They get stuck at red traffic lights, or worse, a full motorway closure...
At the moment, it is likely that a number of larvae have pupated in the warmer, 'earlier' South East - maybe around 20-25%. A similar number may be pupating. The rest are stuck as full-grown larvae.
Why the panic? We know that pupae and pupating larvae are heavily predated, by creatures as yet unknown (I am helping a student who is working on this right now...).
The fate of the 2025 Purple Emperor season hangs in the balance, waiting for the weather to improve (but yes, we did need some rain!)...
The worry is that 2025 is going to mirror 1990, when after a wonderful spring the jet stream jumped south at the start of June, for six weeks, before the sun returned - too late for iris, which had a shocker.
Here's my single captive larva, called 'Pet Rescue' as she (it is a she, no male gonad sack and smaller horns) was rescued from a storm-blown sallow back in November. She wants to pupate. Photo taken at night under UV torchlight -
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