This article is still in construction phase because the chart data has to be realigned from the format transfer.Please forgive the inconvenience. Otherwise the info in there. Reprinted with permission from
Y.E.S. QUARTERLY 8(1) JAN/MAR 1991
Copyright 1991
Gary J. Lovell
3818 Watson Street
Toledo OH 43612
May 30, 2012 Update is because this was originally reprinted in Facebook Notes but is not suopported anymore however the link still works. So I copied it to wordpress.**** The charts did not transfer consistently from Scanner to wordoc to Facebook Notes, that’s why they appear different. I am in the process of fixing them but here is whole article here on my wordpress blog like UNUSUAL ASPECTS Of THE LIFE CYCLE OF SATURNIID MOTHS (Giant Silk Moths):
My previous article (Y.E.S. QUARTERLY 3(4):34-36, 1986) dealt primarily with aspects of the Cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia) and the Polyphemus moth (Antheraea Polyphemus). With this article I include charts from my notes expanding on the test of the earlier article (fig. 1, 2, 3 & 5). In this discussion I will shed new light from data obtained as a result of new experiences with the Promethea moth (Callosaroia promethea) and the Luna moth (Actias luna). Several unexpected opportunities have allowed me to update the information from new charts and notes during the ensuing years. The most exciting and interesting news is about the Promethea moth.
In 1986 I purchased about forty cocoons from a supplier in Pennsylvania for the 1987 season. For the 1988 season I purchased more, but also had an equal number of locally collected cocoons. In 1989 my friend and I found a huge batch of locally collected cocoons. With these I was able to see a definite emergence pattern (fig. 4).
The pattern stayed consistent each year. Promethea cocoons hatched sporadically throughout June. For an unknown reason these were mostly males. Around June 30th through about July 12th, cocoons hatched daily. The numbers ranged from 2-16 during that period. After that the numbers dwindled rapidly and again sporadically until about July 20th. (fig. 4).
I have also noted a difference in the emergence patterns for purchased (captive raised) and locally collected populations. The purchased cocoons started hatching on May 27th (1987) and May 29th (1988), while the locally collected cocoons started emerging June 30th (1988) and June 15th (1989).
Other aspects noted were the peak emergence days of July 4, 1987 (five individuals of which were female). In 1988, July 8th was the date most locally collected ones emerged (six). The same year, on July 9th, seven captive raised ones hatched. The most hatching ever in a single day was 16 on July 6, 1989. Also noted was that most emerged between mid-morning and 3-4 PM (EDT).
With regards to the pheromone (scent) period, I found that it doesn't start at 7:00 PM as previously noted, but at 3:00 PM. With the many opportunities these three years have yielded, the females have consistently attracted males that start arriving at 4: PM. So most probably they were putting the scent out at 3-3:30 PM. Most males arrived by 6:00 PM (EDT), several exceptions coming as late as 8:00 PM on July 3rd and several males on July 6th (1988).
I believe the male moths came so late before was the habitat they came from was fairly far away. Maybe they have made inroads into suburbia, hence coming earlier and in greater numbers. Females releasing pheromone in Toledo consistently attracted only two males, while at a campground forty miles west of Toledo they consistently attracted four males. While living briefly in Liberty Center, Ohio, 30 miles southwest of Toledo, I observed three females attract forty-two males from 5:15 to 6:45 PM on July 11, 1988. Out there the average number of males was 10-15 at each assembly.
An unusual situation came about on the night forty-two males arrived. Since male Promethea fly by day and don't settle down quickly by night
1976 Record of Giant Silk Moth Cocoons Hatched in Captivity
DATE CECROPIA POLYPHEMUS
males females males females
May 10 0 1 0 0
May 17 1 1 0 0
May 19 3 1 0 0
May 20 4 0 0 0
May 21 7 5 0 0
May 22 0 1 0 0
May 23 3 5 0 0
May 24 1 0 0 0
May 25 0 2 0 0
May 27 1 0 0 0
May 28 1 0 0 0
May 29 0 2 0 0
June 2 1 0 0 0
June 3 0 1 1 1
June 4 0 0 0 1
June 11 0 0 1 1
June 14 0 0 0 1
June 15 1 1 0 0
June 18 1 0 0 0
June 28 0 0 0 0
July 17 0 0 1 0
July 19 0 0 1 0
Figure 1.
Atypical Cecropia Moth emergence pattern with typical Polyphemus moth. Early Cecropia emergence was due to their being raised in captivity.
1981 Record of Giant Silk Moth Cocoon Hatch in Captivity
DATE CECROPIA POLYPHEMUS
- male female male female
- May 25 1 1 0 0
May 26 0 2 0 0
May 28 1 1 0 0
June 3 0 0 1 1
June 5 0 0 1 0
June 6 0 0 0 1
June 8 0 0 1 0
June 10 0 0 0 1
June 11 0 0 1 2
June 12 0 0 0 2
June 15 0 0 0 1
June 16 1 0 0 1
June 17 1 0 0 0
June 18 0 0 1 1
June 19 2 2 0 0
June 21 1 0 0 0
June 22 2 0 0 1
June 23 0 1 1 2
June 24 0 0 0 1
June 25 1 1 0 0
June 28 0 0 1 0
July 1 0 0 0 1
July 8 0 0 1 1
July 11 0 0 0 1
TOTAL 10 8 8 18
Figure 2. Typical Cecropia and Polyphemus moth emergence patterns.
1983 Giant Silk Moth Cocoon Hatch in Captivity
DATE CECROPIA POLYPHEMUS
male female male female
May 26 0 0 1 0
June 1 1 0 0 0
June 8 1 0 0 0
June 9 0 0 0 1
June 11 0 1 0 0
June 13 0 0 2 0
June 15 0 0 1 0
June 16 0 0 1 1
June 17 0 0 0 1
June 18 0 0 1 0
June 20 0 0 3 0
June 21 0 0 1 1
June 22 0 0 0 1
June 23 0 0 1 1
June 24 1 0 0 0
June 25 1 0 1 0
June 26 0 0 2 0
June 27 0 0 2 1
June 28 0 0 0 1
June 29 0 0 2 2
July 1 0 0 0 1
July 2 0 0 2 1
July 4 0 2 1 2
July 7 0 0 1 0
July 8 0 0 4 1
July 9 0 0 1 1
July 10 0 0 2 1
July 11 0 0 1 2
July 13 0 0 0 1
July 14 0 0 1 1
July 15 0 0 1 1
July 16 0 0 2 1
July 17 0 0 0 1
Total 4 3 34 24
Figure 3. Typical Cecropia and Polyphemus emergence patterns
Polyphemus mostly later in July.
(they of course beat their wings to uselessness before I can release them). That’s very unlike Cecropia males, which fly by only at night and calm down before dawn. I can therefore count them before they ruin their wings. I probably could have caught more Promethea if I had a way to settle all those males that were in two separate cages. I also thought about marking them immediately and releasing them as to distinguish the newcomers from already captured ones, but I have not had the opportunity to do so.
The data on marked males returning is sparse. Rarely did they come back. However, twice I had a male return that was two days old. At the campground we could tell which ones were wild and which ones were the captive raised ones we had released hours before: the wild ones were always larger, sometimes nearly twice as large.
We also had a record breaker while collecting cocoons. In the Liberty Center area there were many trees in which there were five to 25 cocoons. Although many were dead or cocoons from the previous year. In the spring of 1989, while searching the area, we found a tree that at a glance had maybe fifty or more dangling cocoons. After asking permission, and finding out it was a mock orange tree, we proceeded to collect 188 cocoons. Of those, 137 proved to be live ones. The owner said they always came back, so we took them all. Checking in 1990 yielded nothing. That episode brought to mind a question. How could so many caterpillars live to cocoons stage without getting eaten by birds or bugs? The same summer I released many caterpillars in a birch tree in my yard and none lived to make a cocoon. Perhaps it was just a freak of nature.
In the Luna moth “department” I have not had very good luck. In 1987 I purchased 40 cocoons
1989 Promethea Moth Cocoon Hatch
DATE MALE FEMALE TOTAL
June 15 1 0 1
June 19 0 1 1
June 28 1 1 2
July 1 4 1 5
July 2 3 0 3
July 3 3 1 4
July 4 5 4 9
July 5 7 0 7
July 6 10 6 16
July 7 3 1 4
July 8 5 3 8
July 9 5 2 7 Gary
July 9/10 7 11 18 Jim
July 10 2 2 4 Gary
July 11 1 3 4
July 12 0 1 1
July 13 1 2 3
July 14 3 3 6
July 15 0 1 1
July 16 1 1 2
July 17 0 1 1
July 18 0 1 1
July 19 0 2 2
July 20 2 0 2
TOTAL 64 48 112
Figure 4. Typical Promethea moth emergence pattern in local wild-collected cocoons.
1985 Giant Silk Moth Hatching in Captivity
DATE CECROPIA POLYPHEMUS LUNA
Male Female Male Female Male Female
May 12 0 1 0 0 0 0
May 19 0 0 0 0 0 1
May 20 0 0 0 1 1 3
May 23 0 0 0 0 2 0
May 24 0 0 0 0 2** 2 ** one deformed
May 25 0 0 0 0 0 1
June 7 0 1 0 0 0 0
June 24 0 0 1 0 0 0
June 26 0 1 0 0 0 0
June 30 0 1 0 0 0 0
July 2 0 1 0 0 0 0
July 3 0 0 0 1 0 0
July 5 0 0 1 0 0 0
July 8 0 0 0 1 0 0
July 11 0 0 0 1 0 0
July 13 0 0 0 1 0 0
July 14 0 0 1 1 0 0
July 18 0 0 0 1 0 0
July 20 0 0 0 1 0 0
July 27 0 0 0 0 1* 0
July 28 0 0 0 0 0 2*
July 29 0 0 0 0 2* 1*
TOTAL 0 5 3 8 8 1 0
Figure 5. Luna emergence pattern (two broods) and Cecropia Moth and Polyphemus moth emergence patterns, Luna moths from Southern Supply, Carolina Bio. Supply.
* Second brood of Luna Moths
of which only 20 hatched. I treated them like the rest of my cocoons and wrote to the supplier explaining this. They agreed to credit me for 20 cocoons. I purchased twenty more, for a total of 40, and again only 20 lived. The supplier said something in my environment or the way I store them is the culprit.
Perhaps they are very delicate or susceptible to disease or mold because of the thin cocoons. They are kept in screen cages in an unheated shed with occasional moisture simulating precipitation. Eric Metzler of the Ohio Lepidopterists Society also suggested that they need protection from extreme cold. After all they are usually buried in leaf litter on the ground or under snow.
The experience with the adults that did emerge was consistent. The males mated before being released most of the time. When I did release them they never returned. Even at Maumee Bay State Park, which is near Toledo, no males ever came. However, an opportunity arrived to try emerging Luna’s at a campground in Adams County, Ohio in 1989. Three males came to three females. Two were captured but only one mated.
The Luna cocoon emergence pattern stayed consistent whether they were purchased from a southern supply house, a northern supplier or raised locally (figs. 5,6,7,4 8). Lunas are double brooded in my area and they emerge from mid to late May. (Detailed comparison are as follows: southern supplier: May 19th through May 25th; northern supplier: May 9th through May 20th; and northern local: May 15th through May 28th.) The second brood which I always raised took about six weeks and ten days in the pupal stage. (The detailed comparison for Luna second brood is July 27-29, July 27-August 3 and July 27-31.)
During these past twenty years of studying these moths, I have found them to be the most interesting and easiest with which to work. And, despite widely varied behavioral patterns these species still show much consistencies especially in the emergence pattern as shown in the foregoing charts and discussions.
1987 Luna Moth Hatching
DATE FIRST BROOD DATE SECOND BROOD
- MALE FEMALE MALE FEMALE
May 9 2 2 July 22 1 0
May 10 3 2 July 25 1 0
May 11 1 1 July 27 2 0
May 14 0 2 July 30 1 0
May 16 1 0 Aug 1 0 1
May 17 1 0 Aug 2 0 1
May 20 1 0 Aug 3 1 0
June 4 0 1
TOTAL 9 8 TOTAL 6 2
Figure 6. Luna Both emergence patterns: two northern broods.
1989 Second Brood Luna Cocoon Emergence
DATE MALE FEMALE TOTAL
July 27 0 1 1
July 28 2 0 2
July 29 2 2 4
July 30 2 0 2
July 31 0 1 1
TOTAL 6 4 10
Figure 7. Second brood Luna emergence pattern (raised by author from caterpillars given by Roger Fisher).
1988 Emergence of Luna Moth –
DATE MALE FEMALE TOTAL
May 15 0 2 2
May 16 0 2 2
May 17 0 1 1
May 18 2 1 3
May 19 1 0 1
May 20 1 1 2
May 22 1 0 1
May 26 1 1 2
May 28 0 1 1
TOTAL 6 9 15
Figure 8. Typical Luna first brood emergence pattern (northern supply).
Email contact me at glovell1@sbcglobal.net
Unusual Perspectives 