Molting Cecropia caterpillar, mature caterpillars, and moths
Nov 2, 2016 22:47:05 #
This is an old series of pictures I took, starting about two years ago when I began to really get into insect photography. I did not have a serious camera, only a little 12 mp nikon coolpix. At the time I was raising cecropia caterpillars from eggs (you can buy these, along with other species of giant Saturniid moths by mail order. They are very easy to raise indoors, and it is a lot of fun). I decided to take pictures of one molting, and the main series of pictures show the result.
I don't know if I need to describe all the details, except that insects form a new cuticle underneath the old cuticle, and then they use air inflation and muscle action to split open and work back the old cuticle. You can see the new blue tubercles sliding forward as the new instar works its way out. The broad white stripes that appear down the sides are the cuticle lining of the trachea trunks. These are the air tubes that insects use for breathing.
The whole process took several hours. After about a day this caterpillar, which was maybe 2 inches long, started to feed again in earnest. In a little more than a week it grew to be ginormous. The next to last picture shows what they are like by late summer. These spun cocoons that spent the winter in my fridge. Late in the Spring I set them out in a quiet room, and the final picture shows some adults. These are a male and female.
I don't know if I need to describe all the details, except that insects form a new cuticle underneath the old cuticle, and then they use air inflation and muscle action to split open and work back the old cuticle. You can see the new blue tubercles sliding forward as the new instar works its way out. The broad white stripes that appear down the sides are the cuticle lining of the trachea trunks. These are the air tubes that insects use for breathing.
The whole process took several hours. After about a day this caterpillar, which was maybe 2 inches long, started to feed again in earnest. In a little more than a week it grew to be ginormous. The next to last picture shows what they are like by late summer. These spun cocoons that spent the winter in my fridge. Late in the Spring I set them out in a quiet room, and the final picture shows some adults. These are a male and female.
Nov 2, 2016 23:12:31 #
Excellent documentation of molt. I am glad that you now have a macro capable camera.
Nov 3, 2016 00:53:06 #
Nov 3, 2016 05:08:38 #
Nov 3, 2016 08:14:19 #
#8 reminds me of the movie 'Tremors' with the giant worms or whatever they were. Were these taken in Michigan? Very nice series Mark.
Nov 3, 2016 10:53:23 #
Yes... these are native to the state, but were purchased as eggs online and they came from a different state.
Nov 3, 2016 11:25:56 #
Nov 3, 2016 15:42:26 #
Nov 3, 2016 23:08:48 #
latebloomer wrote:
Happy to oblige! The operator of the web site I use is run by a person named Bill Oehlke, and his web site is here: http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/indexos.htmPlease provide online source for caterpillar eggs.
You can order cocoons or pupae, depending on species this time of year. Later, from late Spring and into the Summer you can order eggs.
What I do is email him, asking for current or anticipated availability for a given species, and his price when paying with PayPal. You can use other methods of payment. When they become available, he emails you, you send the $, and he sends the goods with an approximate delivery date. Be aware that these are live items and so you will need to take that in account if they are going thru regular mail and maybe sitting in a hot mailbox in the Summer.
Nov 5, 2016 12:30:31 #
Nov 5, 2016 18:37:15 #
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