I've been slowly finding homes for a small percentage of the many caterpillars that have made it to the fifth instar. I also noticed today that one of my green caterpillars appeared to be blushing. At first I thought something was wrong until it occurred to me that perhaps it was preparing to spin a cocoon. Several photographs at the Actias luna wiki verified that Lunas can turn a pinkish hue just before pupating. Sure enough, just within the last hour we noticed several cocoons in our bankers-box-turned-Luna-habitat. Exciting stuff!
The wiki entry stated that unless lunas are diapausing over winter, the pupation process should take about two weeks. We'll see if, come early July, we have a new generation of adult lunas eclosing from their cocoons!
That is so cool! I remember getting all excited when the black Swallowtail caterpillar that I had finally pupated; but luna moth cocoons are so much neater! :)
ReplyDeleteJust the info i needed! I've been wondering more about this but hadn't had the time to look it up yet. Luckily we found a good source of tree branches that the little guys (and girls) like, so we're stocking up constantly. Hungry little things, aren't they?
ReplyDeleteBed news is, suddenly we have five instead of six. Must have inadvertently lost one when cleaning out their habitat (they also poop more than I could ever have imagined!). Or maybe one spun a cocoon and I was making sure all the little GREEN things got back in and didn't notice? Hmmmm. Anyway, thanks for his entry, Heather!