Male Cecropia Moth Ecloses

The first of our cecropia (Hyalophora cecropia​) cocoons has eclosed. Stock originated as eggs from New York, June 2016; currently in the F1 generation.

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Late this evening, we found this whopping male cecropia (Hyalophora cecropia) in our pupae box. Granted, it is actually quite small, even for a male, but having not seen anything close to its size in so long it still comes off as being huge. What is interesting is that it is extremely pale for a male (which are generally darker than females); the black is sort of a dirty gray and the red is is rather mellow. This is unlike the phenotype we observed in the previous generation or what is typical. It may have something to do with the different rearing conditions that the current brood experienced, or it could simply be odd genetics.  

This male took 21 days to eclose, which is reasonably long for a moth of this size. Still, this is down quite a bit from the times that we observed in last year, where the moths took about two months to come out. Most likely, the pupae broke diapause immediately this time around because the juxtaposition of cold and warm was dramatic enough when they were taken out of the refrigerator; our dorm is set at about 70 °F 24/7. Last year when we took them out of the refrigerator, it was still February where it was only about mid 50-60s °F at room temperature. 

Anyway, hopefully, this timing is right. Now that it is mid-May with the weather warm, we are certain that the wild population should be stirring by now. Granted, cecropias are generally the latest of the saturniids, owing to their larger size (longer development time) and may not be in full flight until well into June. Nonetheless, if a female does comes out later, we will try to call in a wild male to avoid having to inbreed for a second time in a row. 

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Brian Liang
Brian Liang is a student at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York pursuing an undergraduate degree in entomology. He is co-owner and a main contributor to the Liang Insects blog, insects articles, and site design.

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