What is this?
Answer:
This is the chrysalis of a Monarch butterfly. The gold dots are the result of multiple refractive layers, not a gold colored pigment. Not a lot is known about the function of the gold spots. In the 1970's, Fred Urquhart did some research which seemed to link them to scale formation on head and wings, but his method (cauterizing them) may have been the cause instead of the lack of the spots.
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