Caterpillar fails cocoon building 101 (time lapse)

A dumb-dumb White-Streaked Silkmoth (Saturnia albofasciata) tries but fails to spin its cocoon. It tried again in several other locations but never did get it right. In spite of not having a cocoon, it managed to pupate and emerge as an adult moth just fine. It must not have been paying attention when the teacher covered the finer points of making a cocoon! The music is "The Hunt" by Technician. More music, photos and lepidoptera life cycle documentaries at JCMDI.COM.

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[Sara3346]

Ok I have this..... wait I'm not building a hammock!

[jcmegabyte]

I wondered if he just got the wrong manual - the one for the hammock instead of the cocoon! XD

[pyromaanisi]

@jcmegabyte would you see how it changes into a butterfly overtime? :OO

[jcmegabyte]

@pyromaanisi Yes you can, at least to some degree... most of the changes happen at the molecular/cellular level within the gooey soup inside the pupal shell itself. Eventually, the adult butterfly/moth forms inside but from the outside of the pupa all we can really see is the color change as it nears the finish. You can actually see such a view in my Painted Lady Butterflies develop in time lapse video v=tkiU9uFwqmw :-)

[8drewski]

AH FUCK!!!

[jcmegabyte]

No doubt this must have been pretty frustrating... He made two more attempts after this one (both also failed) so I can only imagine how bummed he must have been (if caterpillars can indeed feel emotions) XD

[jcmegabyte]

Yea - I tried telling him that, but after 2 more tries he still couldn't get it right and finally ran out of silk! He ended-up pupating right on the floor of the container, without making a cocoon at all! XD In spite of that, he survived to become an adult moth anyway =)

[thepianoaddict]

You're doing it wrong!

[EmerillaAlba]

he just wanted a window, guys, no biggy.

[canobiecrazy]

@jcmegabyte Thank you for answering my question! That was very informative ^-^

[jcmegabyte]

Its inability to perform this complex task is almost certainly DNA gone wrong. In a batch of 100 eggs, about 50% don't survive for one reason or another - and that would be considered GOOD results for this difficult-to-rear species. There seems to be a lot of random genetic variation, producing a range of good and bad results. Perhaps only 1-3 percent exhibit "survivable" (in the lab) weirdness like this, and would never make it in the wild. It's fascinating to study them in large numbers. :-)

[canobiecrazy]

Is there a genetic issue with this silkworm? Could it have a developmental issue? How often do they fail like this?