Albany, California Updates (8/29/17): Manduca sexta Eclosion

Back in Albany, our Carolina sphinx moths (Manduca sexta) have begun to eclose.​ Stock originated as eggs, June 2017.

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We had all but forgotten about our Manduca pupae after coming to Ithaca, so we were caught off guard when we received reports today that one of them has already eclosed. We were actually aware, though, that they would eclose sometime now; in the last few days before we left when we checked on them one last time and realized that some of them were already showing signs of development (such as darkening of the eye and solidification of the wing pads). These pupated between July 27 and August 7, so the timing is reasonable too.  In hindsight, we should have tried to get these all to diapause given the inconvenience of having them eclose 10,000 miles away so close to the end of the season, especially because our tomato plants are on their last leg. With this species, it probably would have also been very easy to accomplish this with a simple photoperiod trick. 

Ultimately, the biggest loss with having them emerge now though is that we don't get to see them. We have little experience with this group of sphinx, so it would have been a very valuable opportunity to learn how to feed and breed them and become familiar with their behavior. Because they are such a common laboratory reared species, we assume that they are easy to pair and lay eggs, so for now we have asked our mother to hold off on pinning them all and to leave a few to try to breed. Hopefully we will still be able to gain some insight on the subject when she reports back over the next few days. 

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Authors
Brian Liang

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