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Photo#386590
Life cycle: exuviae - Nemapogon molybdanella

Life cycle: exuviae - Nemapogon molybdanella
Alameda County, California, USA
April 18, 2010
This is the pupal case protruding from the top of the hazelnut piece, undisturbed since the moth left it. The exposed part of the case was 4 mm long. I cut the nut apart and found the posterior end of the case, an additional 1.5 mm, inside it. (When I opened the nut, the case broke off flush with the surface.) The posterior end was rounded, not pointed. The pupa had formed in a narrow channel carved out of the nut, with its anterior end next to the opening. The site of this opening had been visible for weeks as a translucent spot on the surface, a tiny thin place, not an actual hole.

I can only guess that in nature these larvae might begin by eating the flesh of fruits with hard seeds and take up residence in a seed during later instars. Perhaps the nut or seed is optional and the larva would have pupated in the raisin if nothing else had been available.

Images of this individual: tag all
Life cycle: larva - Nemapogon molybdanella Life cycle: postmolt - Nemapogon molybdanella Life cycle: tunneling - Nemapogon molybdanella Life cycle: another molt - Nemapogon molybdanella Life cycle: adult - Nemapogon molybdanella Life cycle: adult - Nemapogon molybdanella Life cycle: exuviae - Nemapogon molybdanella

Moved
Moved from Clothes Moths.

Moved
Moved from Moths.

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