{"id":1774,"date":"2017-10-26T00:42:50","date_gmt":"2017-10-26T00:42:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/?p=1774"},"modified":"2017-10-26T01:04:30","modified_gmt":"2017-10-26T01:04:30","slug":"polyphemus-moths-live-near-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/?p=1774","title":{"rendered":"Polyphemus Moths Live Near Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Edie Parnum<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Female Polyphemus Moth. \u00a9 Edie Parnum. Click to enlarge.<\/p><\/div>\n

A Polyphemus moth alighted on my walkway.\u00a0 It was August 2016, and I had just moved to a retirement community.\u00a0\u00a0 This cinnamon-colored giant silk moth had a wingspan of 4 1\/2 inches.\u00a0 Each hind wing had a large eyespot highlighted with yellow and blue.\u00a0 It\u2019s named for Polyphemus, the one-eyed Cyclops, who was blinded by Odysseus. Although I\u2019m a \u201cmoth-er\u201d, I had never seen this handsome moth before.<\/p>\n

This summer I acquired two Polyphemus caterpillars at Mothapalooza<\/em>, a mothing<\/p>\n

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Polyphemus Moth caterpillar. Photo from Wikimedia Commons by MamaGeek. Click to enlarge.<\/p><\/div>\n

conference.\u00a0 They survived the 9-hour ride from southern Ohio.\u00a0 Once home, I fed them White Oak leaves from my community\u2019s wooded area.\u00a0 They ate voraciously and pooped continuously.\u00a0 (Scientists call the excrement frass.)\u00a0 Once or twice a day I cleaned out the mesh cage and supplied them with fresh leaves.\u00a0 After two weeks, they stopped eating and formed their cocoons.<\/p>\n

Twelve days later, a\u00a0beautiful Polyphemus adult emerged.\u00a0 I knew she was a female because she had unfeathered antennae.\u00a0 Some friends and I released her at dusk.<\/p>\n

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Antennae of male Polyphemus. \u00a9 Barb Elliot. click to enlarge.<\/p><\/div>\n

Off she flew beaming out her pheromones to attract a mate.\u00a0 Two days later a male\u00a0emerged from the second cocoon.\u00a0 We released him, too.\u00a0 Using his feathered antennae, he can \u201csmell\u201d a female\u2019s pheromones from miles away.<\/p>\n

These two moths (or others of their species) will meet up and mate.\u00a0 They will not eat.\u00a0 Their sole job is to mate. The fertilized female will lay her eggs on an oak, willow, maple, or birch.<\/p>\n

Her eggs will hatch and become caterpillars.\u00a0 Birds, mammals, and other insects will eat most of them.\u00a0 Miraculously, a few will survive.\u00a0 The cycle of life will continue\u2014cocoon, adult moth, mating, egg laying, tiny caterpillars, big caterpillars, and cocoon again.\u00a0 This will happen over and over, as long as we have wooded areas or yards with the essential native trees to support them.<\/p>\n

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A Woolly Bear caterpillar looks for a place to spend the winter. \u00a9 Barb Elliot. Click to enlarge.<\/p><\/div>\n

Fall can be a good time to look for Polyphemus and other caterpillars. Many caterpillars leave the host plants where they\u2019ve been feeding and start walking.\u00a0 These \u201cwanderers\u201d are looking for a suitable place to overwinter.\u00a0 Many will spend the winter in leaves on the ground; others will spin a cocoon attached to a twig.<\/p>\n

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Barb found this Polyphemus Moth cocoon in her yard. \u00a9 Barb Elliot. Click to enlarge.<\/p><\/div>\n

A Polyphemus moth cocoon could spend the winter in your own yard. Never mind the cold.\u00a0 Go out into your yard and examine the bare branches of your native trees and shrubs. In 2012 Barb Elliot found a Polyphemus moth cocoon on a Spicebush twig.\u00a0 She told her story on our blog: https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/?p=87<\/a>, \u201cA Magnificent Moth\u201d.\u00a0 Maybe you, like Barb, can find a Polyphemus or other cocoon. At all times of the year, we can look for signs of nature, both active and dormant, in our backyards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Edie Parnum A Polyphemus moth alighted on my walkway.\u00a0 It was August 2016, and I had just moved to a retirement community.\u00a0\u00a0 This cinnamon-colored giant silk moth had a wingspan of 4 1\/2 inches.\u00a0 Each hind wing had a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,112],"tags":[27,15,14,13,37,5,142],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1774"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1795,"href":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774\/revisions\/1795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backyardsfornature.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}