Bugfolks

 Mating Saturnidae:

Here is a rare occasion, an unmated female promethea moth had a male cecropia attatch to it one evening. The female promethea must have been to close to a scenting female cecropia and the male just found the promie more attracting.

Here is another picture of Callosamia promethea pairings from my house. In this photo I used 1/2 cage wire and originally had made it for a bird trap but that was short lived. Now it is my universal silk moth mating cage!

Mating Saturniidae:

Here are some neat pictures to look at of some native silk moths mating!

The fishing basket once again with a female and male promethea moth

A wild found female Polyphemus that called in a small wild male.

Mating Saturniidae

Another method I will use if a female hasn't mated for the first couple nights is to tie some string around her hind wings and forwings to make a leash around the moth. I secure the opposite end of the line to an anchor point such a branch or screening. I am very gently and dont hurt the moth but I tie it tight enough so it cant slip out of it.  This technique works very well if the males are having a hard time mating through the cages.  The only thing you have to look out for is birds getting their next meal.

You can see that the female is an older one and the male she called in was a giant!

Here are some other photos to look at of silk moths!

Automeris io female

Callosamia promethea female

Hyalophora cecropia male

Antheraea polyphemus female

Actias luna male

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 10:21 pm and is filed under Bugs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.