Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A few photographs I took last Sunday of a Promethea caterpillar (aka Promethea Moth or Spicebush Silkmoth. I found 5 of the big buggers munching on a spicebush by the frog pond. Isn't it cute.
.

.

.

.

-----
____

Wyvern

I love the face shot! I have a cute back end shot from last year. I raise these (and several other species) every year so have lots of photo ops. Your's looks like it is getting quite plump and tight and may very well be spinning soon (or has.) Where do you live?

Here is a pic of one that just finished wrapping itself in its leaf and will finish spinning then pupate - not to emerge until next June! The promethea crack me up when you see a lot of them on the foliage - they look like clowns. I also posted a pretty cool shot of a Hyalophora cecropia that just molted into its 5th, and final, instar (you can tell final instar by the formerly red (see shed) and now orange set of scoli ("knobs"). S/he will still be munching for another couple weeks but will likely be the first of the brood to spin. I just love these guys.

>> Your's looks like it is getting quite plump and tight and may very well be spinning soon (or has.)

Took the photos sunday afternoon and the last of the 5 had finished spinning by Tuesday morning. I've been nurturing a small spicebush for the last 5 years and hoping for spicebush cats to settle in this year or next now that the plant was finally big enough to support some of them, but no luck. However a promethea moth I guess decided it was usable though I wouldn't have thought the bush big enough to support those huge monster cats LOL. It's amazing how something that big could hide in plain sight. I originally thought I had 3 on the bush but then found a fourth. Took photos, moved the cats to a rearing cage and come back half an hour later to find a 5th cat just hanging out on the bush LOL.
-----
____

Wyvern

Glad your nurtuting has paid off! yes, it is funny how they "hide." I often miss 2nd instar cecropia because their gold and black look like disease spots on the cherry they feed on! Suddenly, there it is stEven some of the later instars.

6 seasons into rearing I find that each one has a different "dispostion" from the others. The promethea are about the most docile. They are highly gregarious when young and even though they separate in about 3rd-4th instar you can often find 3 or 4 happily munching together on the underside of a leaf. They are also the least wasteful when it comes to their food.

Something to keep in mind about the promethea - they are very often parasitized by parasitic wasps and/or flies (in their larval stage). The wasp will oviposit its eggs inside the caterpillar which will then go thru its stages while the wasp larave feeds on its innards. So after they have spun up and pupated - once they get clsoe to eclosion - you can carefully cut open the cocoon and see if the pupa is still intact or if a wasp nest is in there instead. I begin all of mine inside and then set out in sleeves so I rarely have the problem (though some wasps will oviposit right thru the sleeve if the cat is up against it) but I also collect some wild ones in winter and usually end up with a few that have been parasitized.

Btw, if you ever do end up with wasps let me know becaus I have a friend who does research on the parasites of the Saturniidae family and he may be interested in getting them. I just shipped a bunch of dead larvae (virus) and a set of wasps to him yesterday. Hopefully, all of yours will be OK! it is most distressing when it happens as these moths are fighting to maintain a foothold against habitat loss, alien species and other human-induced problems.

lele

I'll have to wait and see how the promethea do.

So far this year the only parasite problems I had were with my Black Swallowtail cats. This is the first time I have ever had parasite problems with black st. cats before too. Out of the 35 or so I collected had about 1/3 of the chrysalis hatch out some orangey colored wasp. I usually pick the cats off the parsley plants that are sold at a local farm market (with the owner's blessing) as for some reason people don't seem to want to buy herbs when there are big worms hanging off them and the market owners don't want to be spraying insecticides and such.

I always have some parasite problems with monarchs, but so far haven't found any cats to raise yet.

A few years back I had a hickory horned devil apparently infested with some type of fly parasite.. his pupae split open to be full of dozens of large maggots... the toad enjoyed eating those.
-----
____

Wyvern