Polyphemus Moth Eggs Hatching

Photo by Eureka


Polyphemus is one of the most spectacular moths - and caterpillars - in the world. Both are huge; the caterpillar can get to be 3.5" long, and the moth have a wingspan of 6" or more. The moth has two eyespots in its underwings that it can snap out to look like the eyes of an owl. If you're a bat, say, about to eat the moth, and it suddenly looks instead like an owl - which likes to eat bats! - you may decide to fly away and leave that moth alone. So the moth lives and gets to reproduce after all.

The caterpillars become a beautiful translucent green with small yellow stripes and red dot markings. But they start out looking more like bird droppings. Since caterpillars are quite tasty to lots of predators, looking like bird doo is smart, especially when you're a newborn baby. Those predators don't much like to eat bird poop.

When the tiny caterpillars hatch, they first eat their eggshells. Then they can eat many different kinds of leaves. Even though they get so big, they aren't pests. That's because the mother moth only lays a few eggs, around six, so there aren't enough caterpillars in one place to do a lot of damage to trees.

Polyphemus is a type of Silkworm moth. Their cocoon is very difficult to cut open even with a razor. Silk from any of these moths can be stronger than steel. Polyphemus isn't the kind we make commercial silk from, but it's a very close relative.

Here's a great link for information and beautiful pictures of Polyphemus:

http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/polyphemus_moth.htm

Click the link. An adult Polyphemus in all its glory will fill your screen.

The two pictures posted here were taken by Eureka. An adult female Polyphemus moth showed up at the Fossil Farm during our first weekend fossil dig, drawn to the lights in the pole barn. She got tired after a while, and made her way into one of the volunteer digger's trucks. She laid eggs on the dashboard, and Eureka collected six eggs for safekeeping. They hatched in only a couple of weeks, and she's been growing them ever since. We all hope some make it to adulthood, although this species lays so few eggs, that doesn't always happen. Nature can be harsh. So far, there are still four caterpillars, but only three are eating away. So we'll wait and see.

Meanwhile, Eureka captured their hatching on her digital camera. You can see how the little hatchlings look like bird droppings. The picture in the next post shows one of them about a week later, already turning from its newborn camouflage to its next color stage - that gorgeous green.

Thank you, Eureka! You're a good mom.