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Photo#203323
Large Cocoon

Large Cocoon
Baton Rouge - BREC Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, USA
July 15, 2008
Size: 4.4 cm long
See comments under PwrPt #2.

Images of this individual: tag all
Large Cocoon Large Cocoon Large Cocoon Large Cocoon Large Cocoon Large Cocoon Large Cocoon

Moved

Hey - Anyone thinking what I'm thinking?
Luna moth - Actias luna? (Male)

That, or a Polyphemus.

I think the pattern is moth antennae
- male? judging by how full they are.

 
It sure does look like it!
Then I must be wrong about the piece that I thought was the caterpillar head.
Thanks.

 
No, you're right - that would be the final instar's shed skin
when it pupates the whole thing peels off, including the head.

 
Hey, this getting more and more interesting and fun.
If others are correct in thinking that the hole is too small for the moth to get out and it was parasitized by a wasp,

(see comments under the fourth image - the one showing the exit hole.)

then it seems like it happened pretty late in the development of the moth.

 
I had an Imperial Moth that was parasitized
The pupa (below) looked perfect, including this kind of external visible anatomy, shortly after pupation, but it had four parasitoid fly larvae inside. I think perhaps these features are visible pretty much at the time it pupates.


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