Pupae

Pupae of the Eyed Hawkmoth, Smerinthus ocellata.  Orpington Field Club AGM, BEECHE, 10 March 2012.

At the Orpington Field Club Annual General Meeting, one of the interesting features was these moth pupae brought in by one of the members.

When moths that have been trapped are kept in jars for study (to be released unharmed afterwards), sometimes they might lay eggs. If you keep those eggs and feed the larvae when they hatch, they will grow, pupate, and eventually emerge as adult moths.

This member had managed to rear three different moths this way. Not bad going for someone who only started trapping moths last year.

Pupae of the Poplar Hawkmoth, Laothoe populi. Orpington Field Club AGM, BEECHE, 10 March 2012.

There were many more than those in the photo; I just took two representative examples from each tray. The Hawkmoth pupae were impressive, over 3 cm long, and they can wriggle, flexing at the joints between segments, which must be a shock if you're holding one.  The caterpillars are correspondingly large and hungry, and must be fed each day with fresh leaves.  Goat Willow would probably do, though, no surprise, the Poplar Hawkmoth likes Poplars.

The Muslin Moth pupae below are much smaller; the caterpillars will eat several herbaceous plants.

Pupae of the Muslin Moth, Diaphora mendica. Orpington Field Club AGM, BEECHE, 10 March 2012.