Achemon Sphinx Eggs Hatch

Our Achemon Sphinx (Eumorpha achemon) eggs have begun to hatch.

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Since yesterday, our Achemon Sphinx eggs appeared pharate (crescent shape and black line for horn), we were almost certain they were going to hatch today. Since most Shingidae and Saturniidae eggs tend to hatch in the morning, we eagerly checked on them at 8 AM but none had not hatched yet, and we assumed it was still too early for them. When we checked again at around 2 PM, there were two newborns, one of which looked like it had just hatched based on its pale color. We were somewhat confused, however, since we had expected that most or all of them would've hatched by now since it was already afternoon. However, we later realized that either the eggs' circadian rhythm was off or this species' eggs hatch at random times of day starting from noon to evening, because after those first two hatchlings, 19 more hatched at random times between 2 PM and midnight, making a total of 21 hatchlings today and leaving 4 eggs unhatched. None of the newborns ate their eggshells after hatching. 

The newborn caterpillars are yellowish green in color just like the color of the pharate eggs, and have yellow head capsule and black horn. When they first hatch, their teneral bodies are paler in color, and the horns are very short and reddish brown but eventually elongate (similar to how an adult butterfly or moth expands its wings) until they are longer than their bodies before tanning into a black color. The body shape is slender like most sphinx caterpillars and the head capsule is the slightest bit pointy at the bottom. Size-wise, these caterpillars are a bit smaller than the Ophthalm Sphinx newborns we have reared, but their horns are much longer at birth.

After the eggs hatched, we got a grape (Vitis) cutting (whole vine, not singular leaves), stuck it in a water tube, stuck the tube into a upside down cup with a hole to keep it upright, and placed it in a vertically positioned airtight plastic tub. Then, we transferred all the newborn caterpillars eventually distributed onto the cutting. Most of the caterpillars had been wandering around aimlessly in the petri dish before, but when placed onto the grape cutting, they quickly stopped moving and assumed a sphinx pose on the undersides of the leaves. The yellow-green color of the caterpillars matches the color of the grape leaves perfectly, and the only thing that gives them away was their long, black horn. So far they seem very content in the set up, and there is already some evidence of feeding based on a few fecal pellets and tiny holes in the middle of the leaf. 

- Alan