Polyphemus Caterpillar Ecdyses into Third Instar

Our oldest second instar Polyphemus caterpillar (Antheraea polyphemus) has ecdysed into third instar.

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At around 3:00 PM, we checked on our Polyphemus caterpillars and saw that the one that had entered apolysis on 7/26 looked pharate (two cuticles in one), with the third instar hairs clearly visible as black streaks on the thorax as seen below.

After waiting for about half an hour, the caterpillar inhaled air and began ecdysis. We started filming the process, but the camera's memory card maxed out before we could finish (should've cleared it out first!). A little more than half the caterpillar's body is out of the old cuticle by the end of the video, but we made sure to get shots of it when it was completely done as well.

Second Instar Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus) Caterpillar Molting*

* Shown in 4x speed

The third instar caterpillar looks nearly identical to the second instar caterpillar which looked similar to the first instar as well. The only subtle changes are that the oblique lateral lines that connect the two rows of lateral tubercles is a little more obvious now and is yellow in color.

Later in the day when we changed the food, we decided to transfer the third instar onto a leaf stuck into a water bottle rather than put it back in the petri dishes with the others and plan to do this with the others after they molt into third instar. 

Second instar wasn't not quite as long as first instar, taking about 6 days and 1 hour from 7/22-7/28. First instar took roughly 7 days and 2 hours from 7/15-7/22. Below is the count for today.
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L2+ max mass: 0.15g
Count: L3: 1; L2+: 19; L2: 13; dead: 5 (1 died shortly after birth, 4 unknown)

- Alan