Pupation and emergence

		The caterpillars pupate inside the ant nest, and the ants continue to look after the pupae. The pupae are initially very light coloured, but become darker as the time for the adults to emerge approaches. Both light and dark pupae can be seen in the picture above.
Just before the adult emerges the wings of the butterfly inside the pupal case detach from the case, and the pupa becomes silvery (see above). The adult butterfly emerges from the pupa after 3-4 weeks, still inside the ant nest. The butterfly must crawl out of the ant nest before it can expand its wings. At this stage the ants will sometimes attack the adult, so it is covered in very loose hair-like scales. If an ant tries to bite the butterfly it will only get a mouthful of scales. Once outside the nest, the butterfly will expand its wings fully.