Cocoon of tiny colorful moth on Live Oak - Coptodisca powellella

Moved

… Charley Eiseman, 26 May, 2010 - 1:41pm

Moved

Moved from Moths. Just to make sure we're all on the same page: A heliozelid larva, when it has finished feeding in its leaf mine, cuts out an oval piece of the leaf. It then drops down on a strand of silk and attaches this "hole punch" to some object, pupating inside. No materials are added to the outside (the hairs on the case are just the leaf trichomes), and no lacewing larvae are involved!

… Charley Eiseman, 14 May, 2010 - 12:37pm

Larva and cocoon

Maybe it should be moved as Chris suggested. I am not sure.

… Beatriz Moisset, 9 May, 2010 - 10:32am

Larva and cocoon

This doesn't belong in Lepidoptera as Chris pointed out. About the cocoon, look at the Debris-carrying larvae. It seems that in this case the lacewing larva borrowed the whole cocoon, instead of pieces of debris. How convenient! And how interesting!
I would move it but include links to each other using [thumb:#] rather than "same individual".

… Beatriz Moisset, 9 May, 2010 - 10:30am

Not a lacewing

Sorry; there were no lacewings in that container, and those are not jaws sticking out. They are the ends of the wing cases of the exuvium as you can see from the picture I added. I can send you the specimen if you give me a mailing address!!

… Peter Bryant, 10 May, 2010 - 2:23am

Oh, no!

I realized my mistake when I saw your added photo. I tried to edit that comment and replace it by the following one. Too bad it didn't work! So, please ignore my speculations.

… Beatriz Moisset, 10 May, 2010 - 8:03am

Hmmmm

This larval case is from a green lacewing, not a lepidoptera. Should be un-tagged. There are also lots of lepidoptera that incorporate body hairs into the cocoon - arctiinae are great at it.

Beautiful images of the moth though. And nice to hear someone is rearing micros, let's see more!

… Chris Grinter, 2 May, 2010 - 11:52pm

Please explain

I don't understand what I see. Is this a cocoon and the pupa was inside? Did it use leaf tissue to make the cocoon?

… Beatriz Moisset, 11 April, 2010 - 9:26am

Coptodisca cocoon

Yes (I think!) the larva built the cocoon and incorporated some trichomes from the leaf. Then the larva pupated inside the cocoon, so when the adult emerged the pupal cuticle was left behind.

Another moth that uses extra materials in the silk cocoon is the tussock moth, which (I think) incorporates the hairs from the larval cuticle into the cocoon.

What do you think?

… Peter Bryant, 11 April, 2010 - 10:33am

This moth

came from this cocoon or it was just near it?

… John R. Maxwell, 13 April, 2010 - 5:47pm

Pupal cases

I'm sure the three moths emerged from the three "cocoons" (possibly should be called "pupal cases") in this container. In this family, the larvae are known to make pupal cases out of pairs of oval leaf fragments that they cut out and sew together:
http://www.microleps.org/Guide/Heliozelidae/index.html

… Peter Bryant, 14 April, 2010 - 12:02am

Thanks

It makes sense.

… Beatriz Moisset, 11 April, 2010 - 10:35am

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… Peter Bryant, 11 April, 2010 - 12:03am