Calleta Silkmoth Eggs Hatch

9/17/2016

Our Calleta Silkmoth (Eupackardia calleta) eggs have begun to hatch.

We were delighted to find this morning that after 11 days since they were laid, our Calleta eggs were beginning to hatch. From then until noon. a total of 29 of the 38 eggs had hatched. To prevent them from desiccating, we fed each of them a little drop of water, and we let them wander around the pertri until evening since they don't need to feed immediately.

The neonate Calleta caterpillars bear a strong resemblance to Hyalophora newborns due to their primarily black bodies with rows of small tubercles with hairs. The teneral caterpillars have yellow tubercles, but once tanned they are black. The abdomen is striped, with white bands between each segment, and a yellow band in the middle of each segment at the base of the tubercles. The body shape is pretty typical of Saturniid hatchlings, but they seem somewhat fatter and shorter, perhaps because of the proportionally large tubercles.

9:00 AM

9:09 AM

Since Privet (ligustrum) is a commonly used alternative host plant in captivity for rearing Calleta caterpillars, we decided to use it. In the evening, we got a small branch of Privet, stuck it into a water tube propped upright with an upside down cup with a hole, and placed it in a small vertically positioned airtight container. We then transferred all 29 of the little caterpillars onto the Privet leaves. We were afraid at first that the caterpillars might not readily eat the Privet, but with an hour or so, there were already small nibbles on the edges of the leaves. Also, the Calleta caterpillars are slightly gregarious like the Hyalophoras, and several of them formed small, loose groups of 3-5.

Calleta Silkmoth (Eupackardia calleta) on ornamental Japanese "waxy leaf privet (Ligustrum japonicum)

- Alan

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