Murray Before Emerging
This photo is about 1 hour before Murray poked his head out of his pupa. You can see that the pupa is black ( the stage immediately preceding emergence).
Just after emergence
The second photo was taken just after Murray shed his pupa. If you look carefully, you can see that his wings have not yet straightened (they have a wavy look to them).
Close-up of Murray
The final photo is a close-up of Murray showing how he is still clinging to the transparent pupa with his legs.
Unfortunately, I missed the emergence process. It happened very quickly and I was watching the Mets (win for a change). I checked on him at the bottom of the eighth inning and he was still a chrysalis. By the bottom of the ninth inning he was out! Obviously not a Mets fan.
Monarchs go through four life cycles (egg-caterpillar-pupa-adult) each spring and summer. The average life span of an adult monarch during the first three cycles is 2 to 6 weeks. During the fourth cycle involving migration the adult lives about eight months. L’Chiam to Murray.