TAXONOMY:Superfamily Bombycoidea Latreille, 1802 |
"The Rose" |
Below is a link to Youtube video taken by Charlotte Brou, sent to me by Vernon Brou. Vernon writes, "I put that 1 minute video that my wife Charlotte took of ~ 40 male Callosamia securifera in a frenzy flying to three newly emerged females in a cage in the mid-day bright sun. Actually this activity starts about ½ hour after daybreak and continues non-stop till about 1630 hours in the late afternoon. Here is the link; you are welcome to use it. And believe it or not at about 1600 hrs male promethea join the male securifera."
You can use your browser "Back" button to return to this page after visiting the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcShaf9lfdA.
The preferred caterpillar host plant is Sweetbay (Magnolia virginiana). Dirk Bayer reports, "They are difficult to raise on anything but bay magnolia. They prefer sweetgum over tulip tree [at least for me] and will feed on mangrove."
Dirk Bayer, who rears securifera in coastal southern Alabama, has offered a very interesting observation. Dirk reared several broods of Callosamia securifera last season (2006). He writes of this year's (2007) securifera eclosions/pairings which took place April 1-2:
"One of the female securifera hatched from last years 2nd brood cocoons; four of the females hatched from the 3rd brood cocoons and one female hatched from the 4th brood cocoons. I'm glad I saved the cocoons that didn't hatch last year. This may be a normal occurance for this species? Joel sent me six angulifera cocoons last July. I saved the two that didn't hatch, and they hatched last week: a male + four days later a female. Unfortunately she didn't attract any males. The third brood of securifera may be the main overwintering brood and the 4th only surviving a mild winter or not at all as in my case last year."
Basically, most of Dirk's securifera cocoons were emerging two to three weeks after spinup, but some from broods two, three and four did not emerge with their siblings despite the same cocoon treatment and rearing conditions. For some reason these pupae went into a prolonged diapause. Development seemed to be triggered by onset of longer hours of daylight after a decline in hours of daylight (overwintering). Dirk lost all of his last brood caterpillars due to onset of early cold weather.
Dirk also notes that these larvae have a tendancy to drown themselves in foodplant water, so make sure if you have stems in water, that there is a good barrier preventing the larvae from drowning themselves.
Callosamia securifera female, courtesy of Leroy Simon.
Male moths are much darker than females, and the summer brood is darker than the spring brood. In the extreme south, females of the spring brood are often yellowish orange.
The day-flying males of this species are much more likely to pair with calling, caged females if the males are allowed to fly uninhibited/undisturbed into the cage housing the female(s) as opposed to being captured and placed in the cage.
Attempts to capture the males and introduce them to the cage, seem to alert an "escape response" in the males, and they are then more "determined/preoccupied" to/with escape than to/with pairing, according to Dirk Bayer's experiences in Alabama. Dirk also reports much greater pairing results with males that have flown in to calling females as opposed to males that have emerged in the same cage and would be in close proximity without an actual pheromone tracking flight.
Females of most Saturniidae species usually do not fly for the first two or three days unless they have paired first. Thus, leaving a large cage door wide open to provide easy access for males is a good idea. It would probably also help to release caged males if your primary interest is to obtain pairings.
Occasionally I have had the same experience with wild male cecropia in the northeast, and male polyphemus seem to "benefit" from the experience of tracking and flying in.
I tend to use cylindrical hardware cloth cages with a 1/2" to 3/4" mesh so that fly-in males can mate with females by alighting on the sides of the cages. One disadvantage to the cylindrical cages is that birds love silkmoths and have easy pickings if the moths are not protected.
Callosamia securifera, first instar, Alabama, April 30, 2006, courtesy of Dirk Bayer.
Females lay eggs at dusk, in short rows on the host plant leaves. Eggs hatch in about a week, and the young caterpillars are gregarious feeders.Third instar larvae are depicted to the right, courtesy of Leroy Simon. |
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Older caterpillars are solitary feeders, and do not eat the main vein of the leaf. Instead, they cut the leaf petiole at the base and it falls to the ground, perhaps a defensive measure eliminating visual or olfactory signs of feeding.
Callosamia securifera fifth instar on sweetgum,
courtesy of Gary Saunders.
Callosamia securifera, Louisiana, courtesy of Vernon Brou
Cinnamomum camphora |
Camphor |
Dirk Bayer writes of securifera:
"They are difficult to raise on anything but bay magnolia, they prefer sweetgum over tulip tree [at least for me] and will feed on mangrove, I am going to experiment with as many new food plants as I can while I have plenty of eggs."
Later Dirk reported, "The ones I had on elderberry, privet, paw paw, tulip tree and ailanthus all died."
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The pronunciation of scientific names is
troublesome for many. The "suggestion" at the top of the page is
merely a suggestion. It is based on commonly
accepted English pronunciation of Greek names and/or some
fairly well accepted "rules" for latinized scientific names.
The suggested pronunciations, on this page and on other pages,
are primarily put forward to assist those who hear with internal
ears as they read.
There are many collectors from different countries whose
intonations and accents would be different.
The species name, securifera, probably comes from the Latin
"securifera" meaning "armed with an axe". The name may refer to the
white-yellow "axe-like" shape near the cell.
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