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Photo#514074
Did I finally get the Dahlica triquetrella parthenogenic female emerging from pupae?!!!  :-) - Dahlica triquetrella - female

Did I finally get the Dahlica triquetrella parthenogenic female emerging from pupae?!!! :-) - Dahlica triquetrella - Female
Wilton, Inland Barrens, Saratoga County, New York, USA
May 9, 2011
Size: 4 to 5 mm
Best I could do shooting at the limits of my camera. ?? Dahlica triquetrella, potential wingless female, parthenogenic form clinging to pupae after emerging. Fresh, and alive. These sandy cocoons had baffled me for a year. These is a wingless female??

Moved
Moved from ID Request.
Nice work! Last week I saw several bags of this species with protruding pupal skins, and I was confused because this species is supposed to only have females in North America and in other bagworms only the male emerges from the bag. But after seeing your photo I reviewed the info on the guide page and here, and I see now that it's normal for females of this species to emerge, then lay eggs inside the bag through the sides (though I can't quite picture how that works, nor do I see what the point of emerging is).

 
Thanks Charley!, May
I posit that possibly the ovipositor of the female is modified to pierce back in. . .in that I noticed how it is used like a 7th leg, the abdomen strongly pressing it into the bag and pupae as it crawls. I was wondering why the ovipositor was so "hard" and modified. Yes, each parthenogneic female pupae emerges/protrudes from the case as they are ready to hatch out. Amazing creatures with probably some cool secrets to unlock still!
Regards,
Kenny

 
Turns out I found one too...
I had forgotten about this, and when I took the picture it didn't cross my mind that this could be an adult female moth. As in your picture, she is much smaller than the pupal skin, which seems strange to me--usually it's hard to picture how an adult insect could have fit inside the pupa it came from. The other odd thing about mine is that she appears to be a hollow shell--no idea what happened there.

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