Polyphemus Raising, Round Four:
The Beginning - New Birth

The start:

The first Polyphemus caterpillars came from Josephine Keeney at the April 20, 2009 CTMN meeting. She gave away dozens of caterpillars which had hatched from a female she raised. It had deformed wings, but mated and then laid eggs all over her computer and house. So many caterpillars were born that she needed to disperse them for many other people to feed and raise. Many Master Naturalists took home a few, and some took many caterpillars to raise.

Thank you Josephine.

Three females emerged from their cocoons on August 27-30, 2009. But there are no males to mate with them. September 4, 2009 three males found their way into the cage and mated. There were hundreds of eggs laid from this mating.

September 6, 2009 The result of all the work -- eggs. Note, the ruler marks are in 1/16th of an inch. The eggs are approximately 3/32nds of an inch, or 1/10th of an inch in diameter. Ten eggs lined up would be one inch.

September 14, 2009 BIRTH! the first egg hatches and the first instar polyphemus caterpillar crawls out.

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