Don't try this at home!
Taylor Jones writes, "It's hard to see what's going on here, but you get the picture. Two wild polyphemus males flew into my breeding pen last night. One went for the calling female poly. The other, uh, went for the scenting luna! This is the best shot I could get because the two have lodged themselves in a corner of the pen. Viewed from the outside, you can see their embrace, with their abdomens touching. Even if lunas and pollies could interbreed, these two wouldn't quite be able match ends."
"Polyphemus are not attracted to luna pheromone, but when they are sufficiently aroused by polyphemus pheromone, they will couple with the first hairy body they encounter. One of your excited males obviously bumped into the female luna. Sometimes when there are peak polyphemus flights here, when I check my cages in the morning there are three or more males, one of them coupled with the female, the others clutching each others’ hair. I never put two different species in the same cylindrical cage, and I now make sure that when I have two or more species out on the same night, that the caged females have considerable distance, at least ten yards, from each other.
"You are correct, the eggs will not be fertile. When the male polyphemus separated from my female luna, she laid about half dozen eggs. I think her egg sack was ruptured during the pairing. The eggs did not hatch.
"I would like to post your picture with a short write up, as per above comments, so that others know of this possibility and make arrangements to separate the females."
Taylor continues, "Thanks, Bill."Yesterday evening, when the paired pollies had just separated and I'd gone to retrieve her (and release her mate), the male which had mounted with the luna was furiously trying to copulate with her. She was struggling to fly around the cage, with him attached, his claspers searching in vain for the right combination. It took the intervention of an index finger to separate them. If she wasn't damaged the night before, I suspect she is now.
"I was aware that scenting females of the same species should not be kept in the same pen. But both the female polyphemus and female luna had emerged late in the afternoon -- in the pen that is safe from bird attacks. I knew that their scenting might cause confusion among incoming males, but didn't know that the poly male would go after the luna aggressively. (I suspect I'd read that article of yours several years ago, but had forgotten).
"YES, you're welcome to post the photo in the newsletter with a cautionary note. Perhaps the caption should be..."Don't try this at home!"
"The luna female in question isn't damaged, I'll let you know if she finds a mate.
...Interestingly, the female poly that paired successfully with a large, wild male two nights ago, was from last fall's brood that didn't spin their cocoons until November. They've been ecolsing, off and on, since April 26. This seems to be the norm for my pollies -- eclosures that adhere to no schedule. I've got a dozen, mostly jumbo cocoons (females?) from the poly pairing on May 9."
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