First Polyphemus Moth Ecloses

Our first polyhemus moth (Antheraea polyphemus) has eclosed.

---

Since the cecropias took over two months to eclose, we were surprised that the polyphemus were already starting to come out after just a month (taken out of cold storage 3/21/17). Late afternoon today, the smallest and last spun cocoon of the brood eclosed into an extremely small, unhealthy looking female. The individual was very small and likely diseased as a larva back in the summer, and thus its small size probably allowed it to develop much faster than the rest of the brood. Its wingspan doesn't even look 10 cm (looks puny next to the cecropias) and its abdomen is extremely small and doesn't look like it carries any eggs at all - the genitalia don't even look right. In addition, it has bruises on its dorsal side as it struggled to escape its cocoon. So basically, its an unusable moth for pairings, but its emergence indicates that the rest of the brood well likely be out soon.          

Anyway, even though the individual is no good, its wing patterns are still quite stunning. The ground color is a tan, mixed with grey around the eyespots. The eyespots on the hindwings are greyish blue outlined with black and red, and the pupal is a translucent, scaleless patch outline in yellow. The forewing eyespots are the same as the pupil design for the hindwing ones but are larger and lined red. The forewing tips have the snake head pattern seen in many Saturniine and Attacini moths. The antennae are very thin as this is a female, and the eyes are dull brown that shine in the light.

Sort of disappointing that our first eclosion is a bad individual, though we we'll likely have more this week.

---