Amazing. Good of you (or whoever was attached to that stick) to help the poor little thing. Quite a bit of labor and love went into this, no doubt. Good stuff.
Yes - I did cut open the cocoons so that we could see the action inside. In the wild, the cocoon protects the pupa from attack by predators but in the lab/studio there is no danger so the cocoon is basically in the way, These moths completed their life cycle prefectly in spite of the opening in the cocoons. :-) Cheers!
At 0.59 at the bottom left there is a green caterpillar, I'm just wondering what type that is? Because I found one that looks exactly the same, but I don't know what type it is, seems like something between a Robin moth caterpillar and a Luna moth caterpillar.
All the caterpillars shown here are those of Saturnia albofasciata, and look pretty similar to other Saturniidae larvae - including Actias luna and Hyalophora cecropia. You should be able to look up either species online and get a good image of the larva for comparison. butterflies and moths d0t org is a great place to find lists of leps in your area, and find more info/images of them :-)
I was particularly interested in filming the hidden parts of the life cycle - especially with timelapse The pupation/metamorphosis process is probably one of the most mysterious parts of the insect's life - and definitely warranted the extra attention :-) Thanks for checking it out!
It would be more like "Cascoon evolved into Dustox". Considering Butterfree is a Butterfly meaning that it makes a crystalis instead of a cacoon. You couldn't also say "Kakuna into beedrill" since, well these are moths, not bees.
So Dustox is the clear winner here. A pokemon that evolves from a Cacoon into a moth (pokemon).
Thanks for watching and the kind words :-) This is a life-long interest of mine which I do primarily as a hobby, with emphasis on scientific and educational value. I do make my music and video material available for professional/commercial use, but mostly I just alloow others to view and use it for non-profit purposes :-)
Most moth species make cocoons, and there are many different kinds... Some are completely made of silk like those shown here, while others burrow underground and make a kind of chamber, reinforced with silk. Most butterflies secure themselves to a substrate using silk; many hang upside-down by the tail (like Monarchs) while others "strap" themselves in like these swallowtails. Each species does something a little bit different, which makes all the more interesting to study :-)
It's definitely interesting that the adult butterfly (or moth) actually develops to fit into that form, all folded-up in a compact little package like that :-)
@jcmegabyte No, what I meant to say is "Why were pupaes look like a compact form of the adult?", given that they act as shells to the otherwise shapeless body inside. Probably, they were shaped as such to maintain the form of the future adult.
Essentially, yes... along with their skin, they also shed the old "head capsule", which is the outer shell (exoskeleton) or skull after a new one forms underneith it. Strange creatures, insects! XD
Fortunately for these guys they are wild silkmoths (there are about 1500 species of silkmoths worldwide) rather than the commercial silkmoths which are killed for their silken cocoons. These moths were collected and raised specifically for this documentary, and far more of them survived in this project than would have in nature. :-)
That's for sure - it's a LOT of work! This project took over two years to complete. The secret to producing nice clear video is to use decent quality camera and capture equipment (I used fairly cheap JVC MiniDV camcorders and IEEE 1348 firewire frame capture) with as little processing as possible to reduce image degradation. Believe it or not I used plain 'ol Windows Movie Maker to edit and prodice this video :-)
These normally fly around Halloween +/- a couple of weeks. The females are grey and white while the males are orange and brown. I would be very interested to find out if these are indeed what you have there, since Colorado is way out of their normal range. Another genus (Agapema) flies in Colorado, which looks quite similar to the females of S. albofasciata. If you get a chance - shoot some pic or video of them and post. :-)
@jcmegabyte thats probably not what im seeing if they are so rare. I mean i do rarely see something similar to them like one every year so if i see one ill send a pic to you. i dont know a lot about entomology ,but i do think it is interesting.
We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely
admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty. This was the best video I could find to show the beauty of metamorphosis? Take 3 minutes to view this Amazing footage.
Thanks for watching! :-) Some Saturniidae species are very colorful and interesting in just about every phase of their liaves. Definitely interesting critters :-)
hahaha funny you should mention it - there must be a LOT of insects watching on YouTube - my "Silkmoth Mating" vid (part of this species' series) is one of my most popular ones ever! XD
I have posted a lot of info on my website, JCMDI D0T C0M... First find out what species fly in your area, and learn about their life cycles - mostly what kind of habitat they like, and what host plants their caterpillars need. Most species lay eggs at certain times of year, so if you can find the right kind of plants in the right habitat at the right time of year, you should be able to find some caterpillars to raise. Good luck! :-)
i didnt know a cocoon could be cut a little to see whats going on inside. Is it safe to do? It doesnt look to unsafe now that I have seen it. How do you do it? Can it be done with other moth and butterfly breeds?
I use small surgical scissors to snip-open cocoons, being VERY careful not to stab or otherwise injure the pupa. One wrong poke and they're doomed. I've had good luck cutting cocoons open and even completely removing the pupa to watch them emerge. Sometimes the pupal case gets stuck on the emerging adult if it's not secured to a substrate, so you have to watch for that. Moth caterpillars make cocoons for protection but butterflies don't - they just do their thing right out in the open! :-)
Thanks for checking it out! I mostly use Ceanothus greggii and C. leucodermis . They will also eat other Ceanothus species, as well as Cercocarpus betuloides.
This video features both males and females - make sure that the video annotations are turned on so that you can see the description of each scene. At the end of the video, both of the moths which are emerging are females. :-)
I normally try not to interfere too much but in this case my photo setup was probably the cause of the excessive struggle, so I owed it to the critter to help out a bit! :-) Thanks for watching!
so ur saying u want me to go to the forest 20 km from where i am and stay there and one time when i was there i wound a yeloow catapillar and 2 balck and red catapillars
Sometimes you can get the big, cool moths right at your own porch light, but more often than not you have to go out into the wilderness to find them. Once you catch a female of the species you're looking for, it's pretty easy to get them to lay eggs in a paper bag. Then you just raise the caterpillars from there. :-)
Actually, CA is southwest of Ontario, about 1500 miles away. In your area, you're likely to find a large saturniidae species - the Columbian Silk Moth (Hyalophora columbia), which are very much like the Euryalus Silk Moths that fly here, and very cool to raise also. Your best bet to find them is to take (or look for) a really bright light at night out in a wilderness area, in late spring/early summer and see what flies in to it. =)
These moths fly out in our desert mountains here in southern California. The caterpillars are nearly impossible to find in the wild, although i did find a couple a few years back. This is a difficult species to get, and it's easiest to attract the females to a light at dusk, then raise the caterpillars from their eggs. On my website there is a lot of detailed info on this species. Link in vid details. :-)
The silk of this species is not usable at all - the strands are essentially "welded" together to make a rock-solid, single-layered cocoon.
There are a number of other Saturniidae species which were tried as sources of silk for textiles but none are as soft and of the quality as the commercial domesticated silkworm/moth.
interesting ...and then, what about the so called wild silk? it is supposed to be from not domesticated silkworms, there are some suitable wild species to make textile silk? there are too a wild kinda close relative of the bombyx mori?
I remember hearing that Samia cynthia was imported from China to attempt to start a wild silkmoth population for commercial silk. The moth escaped (or was released on purpose) and became established in the northeast US where it still flies there today, but the silk it produces is considered too coarse for commercial use. I know there are no wild populations of B. mori, so I'm not sure what the source of "wild silk" might be. Would be interesting to find out! :-)
I've been studying this species for several years now, and have done quite a lot of documentation on it, both here and on my website. Thanks for watching! :-)
Normally it's not a good idea to help them since you can easily do more harm than good, but in this case just providing something to grab onto was a safe (and nice!) thing to do to help out :-)
MOTH AT END WAS LIKE I NEED SOME HELP HERE!!! THEN YOU GAVE HIM A STICK TO CLIMB ON. OOPS CAPS LOCK. ive helped insects along when they cant climb something. spiders though have sometimes freake me out. fell asleep outside one time and found my arm was spun with silk and a spider sat in the middle of the web. spider web was attatched to the ground. had no idea what to do. sat there for soooo long. look at my watch 300 look at it again 700 im like ohh come on! ended with spider somewhere else.
I don't think I've ever had a spider spin a web on me before (other than a single strand as it was passing by)! That must be how those skeletons in haunted houses must feel! XD
it looked like they were stuck together when they were mating. was the top the female? and how many breeds of silk moths are there? Is the female usually larger than the male, like in some insect species? like the praying mantis, the female mates then she eats her mates head. I admire the female praying mantis and ii dont know why. ;) im watching sooooo amny of your vids now. SUBSCRIBED!
The male has a pair of "claspers" at the end of his abdomen and literally clamps-on to the female. This species stays together for about 45-60 mintues but other Saturniids mate for nearly 24 hours.
Yes, the females are usually larger, and with this species she is the gray/white one where the male is orange/brown. :-)
Yea, the molting part can look kinda of weird until you see what's really happening. They molt or "eclose" in some way between every phase of their lives. Thanks for checking it out! :-)
sorry i must have been logged into my bros acc (lpfan595 is my bros acc) but yeah ill add u and sub on this acc and reply the question to my acc not his so thats fishy259
(Ooops - just got your second message!)...Thanks for the sub and invite (gladly accepted!) :-) Silkmoths (family Saturniidae) don't eat as adults, so they survive only on the fat they stored as a caterpillar. Most only live a few days - just long enough to mate and lay eggs. 1 week would be a ripe-old moth, and 2 weeks would be very unusual, especially in the wild. =)
Thanks for the sub and invite (gladly accepted!) :-) Silkmoths (family Saturniidae) don't eat as adults, so they survive only on the fat they stored as a caterpillar. Most only live a few days - just long enough to mate and lay eggs. 1 week would be a ripe-old moth, and 2 weeks would be very unusual, especially in the wild. =)
That's a very good question - and it IS a delcate "operation"! In fact, I use very small, sharp surgical scissors to VERY carefully cut the cocoon silk (which is tough as leather!) without hurting the pupa. Part of the trick is to nibble-away at the cocoon slowly rather than trying to make fewer big cuts. Also, keeping the scissor blades sideways (flat against the side of the cocoon) helps keep the sharp tip away from the pupa. :-)
It really helped to learn and understand how the caterpillar made the cocoon in the first place. Since I got to watch that happen (and now EVERYONE can via my vids!), I got an insider view! The first few times I cut one open, it took me a half-hour, because I was being to careful and cautious. But once I got the hang of it, it was a breeze and now I can do it in less than 30 seconds. I'm sure you could do it easily, too, once you practiced a litle. :-)
30 seconds?! If you figured this out all on your own, then imagine just how easy medical school will be! You should think about becoming a surgeon, you seem to have a knack for it -not to mention very steady hands.
The life cycles are definitely interesting, but many of the metamorphic changes have also been emulated in horror movies because they are so weird! Thanks for checking it out :-)
Yep - that helps them form into that smooth pupal shape. Of course it's much slower in real life but they do it for a really long time. Thanks for watching :-)
I have two luna moth cocoons here now, how do i care for them until spring, and when spring comes, what do i do with them?? i live in central pa. btw!
The best thing to do is put them outside in an open air cage. A simple, cloth-mesh cage is best... one that the moths can easily climb up to hang from the side or top in order to expand and dry their wings.
Put the cage some place out of direct rain and sun, but near a window so that you can easiy see it to watch for emerged moths.
Most Saturniid moths emerge mid-day, 10A to 3P but won't become active until dusk. Males will try to fly while females just hang there. Good luck! :-)
As for what to do with them, well, you can release them, or try to mate them (if you get a male and a female) and try to raise some more yourself. You'll have to decide!
These caterpillars always build their cocoons attached to a small branch (twig, or stick) of the host plant. You can see the caterpillar choose a suitable location and build its cocoon at 1:30 . Once the cocoon is finished and hardened, I remove the stick from the plant and trim the excess off, leaving only a small bit of twig left as you see in the video. Sometimes, the whole cocoon comes loose, too, which is OK in the lab. In the field that would be bad news for the bug! :-)
Ohhhh - THAT stick! Hahahaha XD ok - that was a pair of forceps (tweezers). If you watch the bit just before the forceps enter the picture, you can see that one of the antenna was getting hung-up on the cut edge of the cocoon - a problem that normally couldn't happen with an un-cut one in nature. I carefully moved the antenna back into its correct position before it could be damaged. They are very delicate and if damaged could cause the pupa to "bleed" to death in a few minutes.
And you raise them too! To see the changes is fascinating! So alien like! hahaha. I suppose you let them go after they become butterflys? Or do you keep them and repeat the process?
Now yer talkin! I can't tell you how many alien SciFi movie monsters are based on the weirdness of insects. Xenomorphs (ALIEN) are just one example.
I've worked with this species for about 5 years. It's considered rare/hard to find, and I always go for the challenging ones!
I keep some and release some but, oddly, releasing captive-bred bugs can dilute wild populations with weak genetic stock so one must be careful. Sometimes it's best not to fool with mother nature too much! :D
I think so, but not everyone else sees them that way... I get that same "feel" from lots of other stuff too - music just starts playing in your head sort of thing. Must be the musician in us! :D
Oh man...I just got flash images of Silence of the Lambs... ;p
Amazing job! I remember one time when I was a kid, I actually kept a caterpillar, and raised it.....only to find it turned out to be a moth! True story..Good times. :)
Thanks for the nice comment :D I think what's required most to get these sequences is a lot of time and patience. The technical aspects aren't so demanding any more, with relatively low-cost, hi-tech toys being so common. The filming is the easy part... getting the bugs to dance is the real trick! :D
This is very interesting. I would never think to cut out windows in the cocoon to monitor its progress. I wish this would work on butterflies too. I raise Monarchs and I find it fascinating how they turn from caterpillar into a jade pupae. 5*****
Interestingly, the pupation process is pretty silimar for butterflies and moths. Many moths build protective cocoons around themselves, while butterflies just do it right out in the open! I like how the pupa forms in the shape of the finished adult (although somewhat compacted).
Inside the pupa is a pool of goo - a "cellular soup" which slowly re-forms into a solid creature. It would probably be pretty messy to observe, even if you could do so without killing the bug. :D Thanks for watching!
This, so far, is my favorite natural history video on youtube. Loved the tranquility of set up when larva pupates. Action and music are great, but the esthetics is there too. Touching are the petals appearing on the cocoon: symbolizes passage of time so well!
Thanks! ...and now I have even more footage of this species - I guess I'll have to combine it all into a feature-length documentary. Maybe Discovery Network will pick it up! :-)
I'm not sure how one's video gets featured. Perhaps someone recommends it to them? Dunno. My last one was a complete surprise - suddenly, I got tons of emails from YouTube ("video commented on", etc.)
Wow, that is fantastic! As a learner spinner (and a knitter when find the time), I've been fascinated by Silk Moths - first time I saw the caterpillars was amazing - I'd always visualised them as being rather dull and boring until I saw the BRIGHT green ones! ;-)
WOW !!!!! GREAT VIDEO. THANX FOR SHARING. GOOD JOB. :)
nalatwad 2 weeks ago
Thank You Without this video i will Be Dumb....
texto444 2 weeks ago
Amazing. Good of you (or whoever was attached to that stick) to help the poor little thing. Quite a bit of labor and love went into this, no doubt. Good stuff.
dhog41 4 weeks ago in playlist Butterfly/Moth Life Cycle Documentaries
2:50 - "Great. That tree branch isn't here. What am I supposed to grab onto".
-Popsicle stick into frame-
"Thanks for the help now, after watching me flail around for a few minutes" -Moth
Empolo18 1 month ago
I think that this video shows how to help.
Rogersvidss 3 months ago
i still have a pic of that giant silkmoth i took 5 yrs. ago when it rested on garage's ceiling. such beautiful creatures!
your videos are SUPER my friend. thanks for sharing them. :)
BLESS YOU!
832existentialiste 4 months ago
@832existentialiste I'm happy you're enjoying my work =) Thanks so much for the view and kind words!
jcmegabyte 4 months ago
well this may sound like a stupid question but did you cut the cocoons open or is that some sort of devise or something that makes it look like that
MsChunky34 5 months ago 2
Yes - I did cut open the cocoons so that we could see the action inside. In the wild, the cocoon protects the pupa from attack by predators but in the lab/studio there is no danger so the cocoon is basically in the way, These moths completed their life cycle prefectly in spite of the opening in the cocoons. :-) Cheers!
TechnicianMusic 5 months ago
2:17 ... wait that other coocon... is dead????
ZeroX1803 5 months ago
They're all quite alive, but in different stages of development and so may not be moving much at the time. :-)
jcmegabyte 5 months ago
amazing video
hasbor 6 months ago
Thanks so much for watching! =)
jcmegabyte 6 months ago
its cool how yuu help them get out. great vid.
flirtybirdy69 6 months ago
Sometimes they really need a little help :-) Otherwise I tend to let them do their thing even though it looks like an epic struggle sometimes :-)
JcmdiStockFootage 6 months ago
2:42 "yes finally im done wait no im stuck
ghostofsouls 6 months ago
They do have quite a struggle to go from egg to adult, and most of them don't make it... Thanks for stopping by!
jcmegabyte 6 months ago
It impressed me!
harrisvideoss 6 months ago
Glad you liked it - thanks for watching! :-)
jcmegabyte 6 months ago
At 0.59 at the bottom left there is a green caterpillar, I'm just wondering what type that is? Because I found one that looks exactly the same, but I don't know what type it is, seems like something between a Robin moth caterpillar and a Luna moth caterpillar.
freakout554 7 months ago
All the caterpillars shown here are those of Saturnia albofasciata, and look pretty similar to other Saturniidae larvae - including Actias luna and Hyalophora cecropia. You should be able to look up either species online and get a good image of the larva for comparison. butterflies and moths d0t org is a great place to find lists of leps in your area, and find more info/images of them :-)
TheNatureStation 7 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
the last moth cannot get out of there
sirvester248 8 months ago
Waow! The last part to see the inside was amazing! A rare sight, at least for me =P
MrKdeK 8 months ago
I was particularly interested in filming the hidden parts of the life cycle - especially with timelapse The pupation/metamorphosis process is probably one of the most mysterious parts of the insect's life - and definitely warranted the extra attention :-) Thanks for checking it out!
jcmegabyte 8 months ago
Metapod has involved into Butterfree!
Adoth93 9 months ago 2
They do that a lot around here! :-)
jcmegabyte 9 months ago
@Adoth93
It would be more like "Cascoon evolved into Dustox". Considering Butterfree is a Butterfly meaning that it makes a crystalis instead of a cacoon. You couldn't also say "Kakuna into beedrill" since, well these are moths, not bees.
So Dustox is the clear winner here. A pokemon that evolves from a Cacoon into a moth (pokemon).
Empolo18 9 months ago
awesome :b
mxr1d3r12 10 months ago
Thanks for checking it out! :-)
jcmegabyte 10 months ago
The last moth is waving it's arms like 'get me the heck out of here!'
winegumsaremyfav 11 months ago
Yea she was kinda stuck and I had to help her out! XD
jcmegabyte 11 months ago
Very interesting video.
cjgone2 1 year ago
Thanks so much for checking it out :-) Cheers!
jcmegabyte 1 year ago
Comment removed
Robbie0Music0Critic 1 year ago
Thanks for the great comment! I'm glad you're enjoying my work and I look forward to producing much more in the future :-)
jcmegabyte 1 year ago
This vid is extremely appreciated! Well done! Is this your job??
mMAmericanSpiritMm 1 year ago
Thanks for watching and the kind words :-) This is a life-long interest of mine which I do primarily as a hobby, with emphasis on scientific and educational value. I do make my music and video material available for professional/commercial use, but mostly I just alloow others to view and use it for non-profit purposes :-)
jcmegabyte 1 year ago
By the way, does every moth caterpillars bud cocoons? Also, does every butterfly caterpillars hang on silk ropes?
nightslash3535 1 year ago
Most moth species make cocoons, and there are many different kinds... Some are completely made of silk like those shown here, while others burrow underground and make a kind of chamber, reinforced with silk. Most butterflies secure themselves to a substrate using silk; many hang upside-down by the tail (like Monarchs) while others "strap" themselves in like these swallowtails. Each species does something a little bit different, which makes all the more interesting to study :-)
jcmegabyte 1 year ago
For whatever reason, pupaes have some features of the adult insect such as the moth antennas.
nightslash3535 1 year ago
It's definitely interesting that the adult butterfly (or moth) actually develops to fit into that form, all folded-up in a compact little package like that :-)
jcmegabyte 1 year ago
@jcmegabyte No, what I meant to say is "Why were pupaes look like a compact form of the adult?", given that they act as shells to the otherwise shapeless body inside. Probably, they were shaped as such to maintain the form of the future adult.
nightslash3535 1 year ago
I have a new found respect for Caterpillars.
Haii2you 1 year ago 2
Indeed - they do some pretty amazing things for such simple-looking creatures :-)
JcmdiStockFootage 1 year ago
at 2:11 was it's head coming off?! :P
webkinz5789 1 year ago
Essentially, yes... along with their skin, they also shed the old "head capsule", which is the outer shell (exoskeleton) or skull after a new one forms underneith it. Strange creatures, insects! XD
jcmegabyte 1 year ago
@jcmegabyte That's why I call those as the "Beauties of the nature."
nightslash3535 1 year ago
Fortunately for these guys they are wild silkmoths (there are about 1500 species of silkmoths worldwide) rather than the commercial silkmoths which are killed for their silken cocoons. These moths were collected and raised specifically for this documentary, and far more of them survived in this project than would have in nature. :-)
jcmegabyte 1 year ago
A lot of human labor went into the production of this video as well. Would love to know how to produce videos of such clarity.
Dunkleosteus3691 1 year ago 8
That's for sure - it's a LOT of work! This project took over two years to complete. The secret to producing nice clear video is to use decent quality camera and capture equipment (I used fairly cheap JVC MiniDV camcorders and IEEE 1348 firewire frame capture) with as little processing as possible to reduce image degradation. Believe it or not I used plain 'ol Windows Movie Maker to edit and prodice this video :-)
jcmegabyte 1 year ago
i like ow they transform into cacoons and acting the humans with exorsims
n00bXafif 1 year ago
They definitely have Linda Blair thing down! XD Thanks for checking it out :-)
jcmegabyte 1 year ago
i live in Colorado and occasionally see these in late summer
TheDino3731 1 year ago
These normally fly around Halloween +/- a couple of weeks. The females are grey and white while the males are orange and brown. I would be very interested to find out if these are indeed what you have there, since Colorado is way out of their normal range. Another genus (Agapema) flies in Colorado, which looks quite similar to the females of S. albofasciata. If you get a chance - shoot some pic or video of them and post. :-)
jcmegabyte 1 year ago
@jcmegabyte thats probably not what im seeing if they are so rare. I mean i do rarely see something similar to them like one every year so if i see one ill send a pic to you. i dont know a lot about entomology ,but i do think it is interesting.
TheDino3731 1 year ago
We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely
admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty. This was the best video I could find to show the beauty of metamorphosis? Take 3 minutes to view this Amazing footage.
Live, Love, Laugh Laura
designsbylala 1 year ago 5
Thanks for the view and nice comment! :-)
jcmegabyte 1 year ago
they´re beautyfull =´D
rubenBDpedro 1 year ago
Thanks for watching! :-) Some Saturniidae species are very colorful and interesting in just about every phase of their liaves. Definitely interesting critters :-)
jcmegabyte 1 year ago
Kill it with fire
Sephy7777 1 year ago
Insectly hot, the moths and the butterflies
A lovely lesson of the facts of life
well done
hurricanejones1 1 year ago
INSECTLY HOTTTTT!!!!!
hurricanejones1 1 year ago
hahaha funny you should mention it - there must be a LOT of insects watching on YouTube - my "Silkmoth Mating" vid (part of this species' series) is one of my most popular ones ever! XD
jcmegabyte 1 year ago
this video is just amazing, i wish i could breed some moths or butterflies. How can i start??
CraneoPlaneswalker 1 year ago
I have posted a lot of info on my website, JCMDI D0T C0M... First find out what species fly in your area, and learn about their life cycles - mostly what kind of habitat they like, and what host plants their caterpillars need. Most species lay eggs at certain times of year, so if you can find the right kind of plants in the right habitat at the right time of year, you should be able to find some caterpillars to raise. Good luck! :-)
jcmegabyte 1 year ago
i didnt know a cocoon could be cut a little to see whats going on inside. Is it safe to do? It doesnt look to unsafe now that I have seen it. How do you do it? Can it be done with other moth and butterfly breeds?
miniixio 1 year ago
I use small surgical scissors to snip-open cocoons, being VERY careful not to stab or otherwise injure the pupa. One wrong poke and they're doomed. I've had good luck cutting cocoons open and even completely removing the pupa to watch them emerge. Sometimes the pupal case gets stuck on the emerging adult if it's not secured to a substrate, so you have to watch for that. Moth caterpillars make cocoons for protection but butterflies don't - they just do their thing right out in the open! :-)
jcmegabyte 1 year ago
@jcmegabyte cool thanks. I dont think ill try it out, i dont wanna hurt em lol
miniixio 1 year ago
o thank's
manuellazaro29 2 years ago
None of them grow in holland:p
Nevermind, nice video!
Rob1994p 2 years ago
Hey, nice video!
What foodplant do you use?
Rob1994p 2 years ago
Thanks for checking it out! I mostly use Ceanothus greggii and C. leucodermis . They will also eat other Ceanothus species, as well as Cercocarpus betuloides.
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
disculpa pero... ¿como sabes si es hembra o macho?
manuellazaro29 2 years ago
This video features both males and females - make sure that the video annotations are turned on so that you can see the description of each scene. At the end of the video, both of the moths which are emerging are females. :-)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
OH NO cell is complete!
NathanCoalbine 2 years ago
@NathanCoalbine LOL!!!
CraneoPlaneswalker 1 year ago
2:51 was soo cute, the thing was strugling and then the stick comes in and its like YAY! THANK YOU!
usarules10 2 years ago
I normally try not to interfere too much but in this case my photo setup was probably the cause of the excessive struggle, so I owed it to the critter to help out a bit! :-) Thanks for watching!
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
1:38 - go catapillar! go catapillar!
Vexie99 2 years ago
It spends like half of its life transforming and the rest of the time it just spazzes out haha
kensei85 2 years ago
And then to top that off, it spends another 4 months or so in the cocoon waiting for the right time to emerge. Hopefully it's worthwhile for them! XD
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
i have found that caterpillars and moths and butterflys are so interesting creatures. thank you jcmegabyte! sub-ed =]
freakyjos 2 years ago
Thanks so much for checking it out! :-)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
Wow! truly amazing video!
QuietRiot91 2 years ago
Glad you enjoyed - thanks for watching! =)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
dehhi dehhi i loved....not.....kiddin
Vexie99 2 years ago
so ur saying u want me to go to the forest 20 km from where i am and stay there and one time when i was there i wound a yeloow catapillar and 2 balck and red catapillars
Vexie99 2 years ago
Sometimes you can get the big, cool moths right at your own porch light, but more often than not you have to go out into the wilderness to find them. Once you catch a female of the species you're looking for, it's pretty easy to get them to lay eggs in a paper bag. Then you just raise the caterpillars from there. :-)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
if i'm correct ..... california is......south east from ontario or east with a bit of south.....or north
Vexie99 2 years ago
Actually, CA is southwest of Ontario, about 1500 miles away. In your area, you're likely to find a large saturniidae species - the Columbian Silk Moth (Hyalophora columbia), which are very much like the Euryalus Silk Moths that fly here, and very cool to raise also. Your best bet to find them is to take (or look for) a really bright light at night out in a wilderness area, in late spring/early summer and see what flies in to it. =)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
where did you find these catapillars ur backyard?! (i know it's imposible)
Vexie99 2 years ago
These moths fly out in our desert mountains here in southern California. The caterpillars are nearly impossible to find in the wild, although i did find a couple a few years back. This is a difficult species to get, and it's easiest to attract the females to a light at dusk, then raise the caterpillars from their eggs. On my website there is a lot of detailed info on this species. Link in vid details. :-)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
These videos are so amazing! Thanks for posting them!
KCMN 2 years ago 2
My pleasure - so glad to hear you are enjoying them! :-)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
does this moth caterpillar produces real useful silk??? it is worth as textile
HidalgoPetiso 2 years ago
The silk of this species is not usable at all - the strands are essentially "welded" together to make a rock-solid, single-layered cocoon.
There are a number of other Saturniidae species which were tried as sources of silk for textiles but none are as soft and of the quality as the commercial domesticated silkworm/moth.
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
interesting ...and then, what about the so called wild silk? it is supposed to be from not domesticated silkworms, there are some suitable wild species to make textile silk? there are too a wild kinda close relative of the bombyx mori?
HidalgoPetiso 2 years ago
I remember hearing that Samia cynthia was imported from China to attempt to start a wild silkmoth population for commercial silk. The moth escaped (or was released on purpose) and became established in the northeast US where it still flies there today, but the silk it produces is considered too coarse for commercial use. I know there are no wild populations of B. mori, so I'm not sure what the source of "wild silk" might be. Would be interesting to find out! :-)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
this is very interesting and detailed!
g0tFisH 2 years ago
I've been studying this species for several years now, and have done quite a lot of documentation on it, both here and on my website. Thanks for watching! :-)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
Yes, she really did need a little help there! Thanks for checking it out =)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
truly wonders of god....... thx for the post! ncie educational vid u have there =D and if it helps .. imma gona subscribe ! keep the hardwork dude!
Kaz3rOth 2 years ago
Thanks for the view and great comment! Subscriptions are always appreciated - especially if you enjoy the show :-)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
maraviloso gracias por compartir esto.
solmargar 2 years ago
Thanks for watching and commenting =)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
I liked when you helped it out :D
Gretgor666 2 years ago 2
Normally it's not a good idea to help them since you can easily do more harm than good, but in this case just providing something to grab onto was a safe (and nice!) thing to do to help out :-)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
MOTH AT END WAS LIKE I NEED SOME HELP HERE!!! THEN YOU GAVE HIM A STICK TO CLIMB ON. OOPS CAPS LOCK. ive helped insects along when they cant climb something. spiders though have sometimes freake me out. fell asleep outside one time and found my arm was spun with silk and a spider sat in the middle of the web. spider web was attatched to the ground. had no idea what to do. sat there for soooo long. look at my watch 300 look at it again 700 im like ohh come on! ended with spider somewhere else.
Roserietta 2 years ago
I don't think I've ever had a spider spin a web on me before (other than a single strand as it was passing by)! That must be how those skeletons in haunted houses must feel! XD
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
it looked like they were stuck together when they were mating. was the top the female? and how many breeds of silk moths are there? Is the female usually larger than the male, like in some insect species? like the praying mantis, the female mates then she eats her mates head. I admire the female praying mantis and ii dont know why. ;) im watching sooooo amny of your vids now. SUBSCRIBED!
Roserietta 2 years ago
The male has a pair of "claspers" at the end of his abdomen and literally clamps-on to the female. This species stays together for about 45-60 mintues but other Saturniids mate for nearly 24 hours.
Yes, the females are usually larger, and with this species she is the gray/white one where the male is orange/brown. :-)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
1:12 HES ABOUT TO HAVE A SEIZURE LOL
fishy259 2 years ago
At speed just about everything looks like it's having a spaz! Hahahaha XD
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
ohh before i thought its head got cut off... LOL!!! but his skin molted and made a new type of skin ...
luvsGothLyfe01 2 years ago
Yea, the molting part can look kinda of weird until you see what's really happening. They molt or "eclose" in some way between every phase of their lives. Thanks for checking it out! :-)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
Comment removed
luvsGothLyfe01 2 years ago
sorry i must have been logged into my bros acc (lpfan595 is my bros acc) but yeah ill add u and sub on this acc and reply the question to my acc not his so thats fishy259
fishy259 2 years ago
(Ooops - just got your second message!)...Thanks for the sub and invite (gladly accepted!) :-) Silkmoths (family Saturniidae) don't eat as adults, so they survive only on the fat they stored as a caterpillar. Most only live a few days - just long enough to mate and lay eggs. 1 week would be a ripe-old moth, and 2 weeks would be very unusual, especially in the wild. =)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
how long can Silkmoths live? plus i subscribed and gave u a friend request
lpfan595 2 years ago
Thanks for the sub and invite (gladly accepted!) :-) Silkmoths (family Saturniidae) don't eat as adults, so they survive only on the fat they stored as a caterpillar. Most only live a few days - just long enough to mate and lay eggs. 1 week would be a ripe-old moth, and 2 weeks would be very unusual, especially in the wild. =)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
their so fuzzy O.o
EmiriDarkFall008 2 years ago
Yup... Many moths (and some butterflies) have long scales like that, which look like fur. Really freaks some people out, too! :-)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
How do you cut into the cocoon without killing the moth inside? How do you keep from stabbing the pupa with the pair of scissors?
ObeyBunny 2 years ago
That's a very good question - and it IS a delcate "operation"! In fact, I use very small, sharp surgical scissors to VERY carefully cut the cocoon silk (which is tough as leather!) without hurting the pupa. Part of the trick is to nibble-away at the cocoon slowly rather than trying to make fewer big cuts. Also, keeping the scissor blades sideways (flat against the side of the cocoon) helps keep the sharp tip away from the pupa. :-)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
I wish I had such surgical skill -I mean, you can do something like this, on your own, using only a pair of scissors!
ObeyBunny 2 years ago
It really helped to learn and understand how the caterpillar made the cocoon in the first place. Since I got to watch that happen (and now EVERYONE can via my vids!), I got an insider view! The first few times I cut one open, it took me a half-hour, because I was being to careful and cautious. But once I got the hang of it, it was a breeze and now I can do it in less than 30 seconds. I'm sure you could do it easily, too, once you practiced a litle. :-)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
30 seconds?! If you figured this out all on your own, then imagine just how easy medical school will be! You should think about becoming a surgeon, you seem to have a knack for it -not to mention very steady hands.
P.S. I've never heard of a poor surgeon. :)
ObeyBunny 2 years ago
verry cool man thanks for the video liked it alot!
lonnnnner 2 years ago
Glad you liked! Thanks for checking it out :-)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
Really nicely put together, thanks.
jimmydalejimmydale 2 years ago
Glad you enjoyed this one. I'm hoping to put together and HD version some time, with clearer footage. Thanks for stopping by! :-)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
wow ive never seen how they actually become moths! cool, but gross XD
xxplayybunnyy 2 years ago
The life cycles are definitely interesting, but many of the metamorphic changes have also been emulated in horror movies because they are so weird! Thanks for checking it out :-)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
Lol they roll around like a thousand times
HaloMongoose 2 years ago
Yep - that helps them form into that smooth pupal shape. Of course it's much slower in real life but they do it for a really long time. Thanks for watching :-)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
It's awesome how they shed their skin.
fritomanmt 2 years ago
Seems like they're always shedding something to turn into something else! XD Glad you enjoyed the show - thanks for watching! :-)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
Educational and entertaining! Thank you!!
megyerdon 2 years ago
Glad you enjoyed - thanks for watching! :-)
jcmegabyte 2 years ago
I have two luna moth cocoons here now, how do i care for them until spring, and when spring comes, what do i do with them?? i live in central pa. btw!
Wisehemlock 3 years ago
The best thing to do is put them outside in an open air cage. A simple, cloth-mesh cage is best... one that the moths can easily climb up to hang from the side or top in order to expand and dry their wings.
Put the cage some place out of direct rain and sun, but near a window so that you can easiy see it to watch for emerged moths.
Most Saturniid moths emerge mid-day, 10A to 3P but won't become active until dusk. Males will try to fly while females just hang there. Good luck! :-)
jcmegabyte 3 years ago
As for what to do with them, well, you can release them, or try to mate them (if you get a male and a female) and try to raise some more yourself. You'll have to decide!
jcmegabyte 3 years ago
can the silk be used?
AnotherBoii 3 years ago
It can, but it's much more coarse than the silk produced by domesticated commercial silkworm, Bombyx mori.
jcmegabyte 3 years ago
Wow!! great!!
nakaufo 3 years ago
Thanks so much for watching and commenting :-)
jcmegabyte 3 years ago
I have a question: what is that stick for while the caterpillar was pupating?
darthjay13 3 years ago
These caterpillars always build their cocoons attached to a small branch (twig, or stick) of the host plant. You can see the caterpillar choose a suitable location and build its cocoon at 1:30 . Once the cocoon is finished and hardened, I remove the stick from the plant and trim the excess off, leaving only a small bit of twig left as you see in the video. Sometimes, the whole cocoon comes loose, too, which is OK in the lab. In the field that would be bad news for the bug! :-)
jcmegabyte 3 years ago
Let me refraze um...when you could see the caterpillar changing into pupa in the cocoon at like 2:22 . I ment that stick.
darthjay13 3 years ago
Ohhhh - THAT stick! Hahahaha XD ok - that was a pair of forceps (tweezers). If you watch the bit just before the forceps enter the picture, you can see that one of the antenna was getting hung-up on the cut edge of the cocoon - a problem that normally couldn't happen with an un-cut one in nature. I carefully moved the antenna back into its correct position before it could be damaged. They are very delicate and if damaged could cause the pupa to "bleed" to death in a few minutes.
jcmegabyte 3 years ago
Oh it was an antenna.
darthjay13 3 years ago
And you raise them too! To see the changes is fascinating! So alien like! hahaha. I suppose you let them go after they become butterflys? Or do you keep them and repeat the process?
starzship 3 years ago
Now yer talkin! I can't tell you how many alien SciFi movie monsters are based on the weirdness of insects. Xenomorphs (ALIEN) are just one example.
I've worked with this species for about 5 years. It's considered rare/hard to find, and I always go for the challenging ones!
I keep some and release some but, oddly, releasing captive-bred bugs can dilute wild populations with weak genetic stock so one must be careful. Sometimes it's best not to fool with mother nature too much! :D
jcmegabyte 3 years ago
great video bro, you have talent!
djmastervolume 3 years ago
bugs almost have this frantic musical vibe to them dont they? they have sophisticated rythems.
seapockets 3 years ago
I think so, but not everyone else sees them that way... I get that same "feel" from lots of other stuff too - music just starts playing in your head sort of thing. Must be the musician in us! :D
jcmegabyte 3 years ago
Oh man...I just got flash images of Silence of the Lambs... ;p
Amazing job! I remember one time when I was a kid, I actually kept a caterpillar, and raised it.....only to find it turned out to be a moth! True story..Good times. :)
jules10109 3 years ago
Funny thing about random caterpillars - "Life is like a box of chocolates..." - you never know what you're gonna get! Thanks for watching :D
jcmegabyte 3 years ago
Yea,me too man!There's a cute little caterpillar on the outside wall of my house and when it emerged,it turned out to be a yellow-winged butterfly!
Kougaiji35 3 years ago
Thanks for the nice comment :D I think what's required most to get these sequences is a lot of time and patience. The technical aspects aren't so demanding any more, with relatively low-cost, hi-tech toys being so common. The filming is the easy part... getting the bugs to dance is the real trick! :D
Thanks for watching!
jcmegabyte 4 years ago
This is very interesting. I would never think to cut out windows in the cocoon to monitor its progress. I wish this would work on butterflies too. I raise Monarchs and I find it fascinating how they turn from caterpillar into a jade pupae. 5*****
tessalia87 4 years ago
Interestingly, the pupation process is pretty silimar for butterflies and moths. Many moths build protective cocoons around themselves, while butterflies just do it right out in the open! I like how the pupa forms in the shape of the finished adult (although somewhat compacted).
Inside the pupa is a pool of goo - a "cellular soup" which slowly re-forms into a solid creature. It would probably be pretty messy to observe, even if you could do so without killing the bug. :D Thanks for watching!
jcmegabyte 4 years ago
Fascinating.
vonijoe 4 years ago
sweet nice stuff.. check out my vids..
albastar21 4 years ago
This, so far, is my favorite natural history video on youtube. Loved the tranquility of set up when larva pupates. Action and music are great, but the esthetics is there too. Touching are the petals appearing on the cocoon: symbolizes passage of time so well!
lepidopterist101 4 years ago
Well Done!
ScienceOnline 4 years ago
Thanks! ...and now I have even more footage of this species - I guess I'll have to combine it all into a feature-length documentary. Maybe Discovery Network will pick it up! :-)
jcmegabyte 4 years ago
this should get featured it's so cool.
pudgimelon 4 years ago
I'm not sure how one's video gets featured. Perhaps someone recommends it to them? Dunno. My last one was a complete surprise - suddenly, I got tons of emails from YouTube ("video commented on", etc.)
jcmegabyte 4 years ago
I was so happy to see the "helping hand"! That was truly lovely. Thanks for sharing your amazing videos!
zerdda 4 years ago
i could spend hours watching your videos. Thanks!!
vegietale 4 years ago
nice to find movies like this on youtube. music is well chosen, too.
weckmann 4 years ago
Wow, that is fantastic! As a learner spinner (and a knitter when find the time), I've been fascinated by Silk Moths - first time I saw the caterpillars was amazing - I'd always visualised them as being rather dull and boring until I saw the BRIGHT green ones! ;-)
ukmaggie45 4 years ago