Red scaling is profuse; grey-black is replaced by red-brown
Torn forewing tips have been restored by Bill Oehlke
Inbreeding of many species has been a preferred method of setting and maintaining certain genetic traits and characteristics in pets and other animals of commercial value, and this route was also employed in an attempt to produce albinism from two separate lines of cecropia.
If, after inbreeding, no albino genes surfaced from the genetic background of these separate lines, it was at least hoped that some other color or form variant would be brought to the forefront. This article will explore the methods and assumptions used to produce what I am referring to as the recessive "red" cecropia.
Red scaling is profuse; grey-black is replaced by red-brown
Torn forewing tips have been restored by Bill Oehlke
I fashioned a small cage from half inch woven wire, and left her on the windowsill overnight. To my seven-year-old amazement, there was a male mating with her through the cage and two other males resting on the side of the house the next morning. A couple of days after mating, the female expired, and, after a few days of waiting for the eggs to hatch, my seven-year-old curiosity gave up and I moved on to other "experiments".
In the winter of 1994, I again discovered a cecropia cocoon, and luckily it emerged as female the next spring. This time, however, I was better prepared, as I had learned that the eggs would take about 12 days to hatch. Again I prepared a woven wire cage for mating, and was successful the next morning with her calling in a male.
This first batch of eggs was laid 6/4/95, directly onto live maple leaves. When egg laying ceased, the female was dispatched and mounted. On the day of hatching, the young were distributed onto other neighborhood trees in an attempt to avoid excessive predation.
This proved to be a good hunch. When our family returned from a weekend excursion, a paper wasp was found to be devouring the last of the larvae on the maple tree. On 8/20/95, one lone fifth instar larva was found on a small fence near an apple tree (which originally had been seeded with some larvae). This particular individual possessed a very light yellow-orange headdress.
Luck continued as this moth emerged female on 6/20/96. She was kept in the emergence cage (half inch woven wire of about 8 inches x 8 inches x 18 inches), which was stored inside the breeding cage (an old rabbit cage) of about 36 inches x 36 inches x 24 inches high.
At approximately 5am the next morning, 4 large males were found circling the rabbit cage. An attempt was made to single out the biggest male, however poor visibility at that time of the morning made this impossible.
The door to the rabbit cage was opened and the first male to her had marginally damaged wings, possibly indicating either age, previous flights, or both. I met and consulted with Mr. Gordon Adams, also of Peoria, Illinois, USA, who suggested that instead of allowing the female to deposit eggs directly onto tree leaves, it may be best to supervise the egg laying by enclosing the female in a paper bag and letting her deposit eggs on the walls.
After they were laid, the eggs could then be cut from the bag, leaving some paper, which could later be glued to the leaves, under the eggs. This method was attempted, in part, by placing the female into a ten-gallon aquarium with a crumpled paper bag on floor of tank. She managed to deposit some eggs onto the paper, however, the majority were found on the sides of the tank.
This turned out to be better, as a couple of days prior to hatching, these eggs were then glued directly to leaves on the apple tree. She produced at least 200 eggs, half of which Mr. Adams was happy to receive.
The male had apparently not yet bred, as 100% of the eggs hatched in about 11 days. All larvae were brought indoors to be reared in the aquarium on wild cherry and apple forage. As the brood grew, smaller individuals were thinned out to the neighborhood trees. It was discovered during this time that limbs brought indoors would need to be of the more woody selections, as those with succulent terminals were more prone to wilt and die quickly.
After some problems with a few individuals not readily shedding their skins, I was directed by Mr. Adams to mist not only the larvae daily, but also the branches in an effort to moisten the skins and also allow for drinking. A couple of days prior to the molt, the larvae become sluggish, spinning a small area of silk on the branch/leaf for attachment by the rear prolegs, which eases slipping out of the old skin.
The majority of the time spent on indoor rearing was consumed with supplying forage and returning "wanderers" back to the branches. After two months of thinning, about twenty young remained and were transferred outdoors to the apple tree. A fine cloth mesh was used to enclose the end of the branch to keep birds and paper wasps at bay.
This worked well, and the material could enclose two days worth of foliage. The leaves needed little to no misting, as morning dew was readily available. This year three different colored headdresses occurred: yellow, orange, and yellow/orange. Spinning began on approximately 8/26/96. Size of cocoons ranged from not much more than 2 inches to over 4 inches.
No other cocoons were found to have survived in the wild throughout the neighborhood that winter, and eighteen cocoons survived of the original twenty into 1997. A survival test was made: two females were bred - the first laying a couple hundred eggs on the apple tree, which were later brought indoors - and the second laying over 200 eggs which were left on the tree. After a week, this second batch did not fare well once the birds and paper wasps located them.
The research now takes an interesting turn, as a large cocoon was found in nearby neighborhood in a birch tree on the property of Dr. Rick O'Conner, the day before a large female emerged. It is difficult to describe her subtle differences in colors and shades. It appeared to me from the beginning that she had a greater than usual amount of red dusting, not only on the "shoulders" of the forewings, but spread out even onto the hindwings. The borders between colors were very distinct, and the red band on the perimeter of the hindwings was relatively wide.This female, too, was bred and most of her young were distributed to the neighborhood trees. Some of this "red" female's young were housed on the apple tree with the intent of having cross-breeding material for the next season, and also to prove to myself whether or not the young needed to be started indoors.
The summer of 1997 had been a relatively dry one, and both broods suffered high mortality rates. This was the year of the "drip" - a fatal disease whereby the larvae becomes sluggish in the last instar, eventually loosing their grip on the branch. A dark color begins to pervade the entire body and the forelegs loose their grip, followed by the rear prolegs. The loss of grip on the branch proceeds from both ends of the now black larva, ending with only one or two pairs of prolegs clinging to the branch while dark juices seep from both ends of the body (predominantly the head).
The condition seems to be quite contagious, and all affected individuals must be removed at the first sign of the disease. After consulting Mr. Bill Oehlke of Prince Edward Island, Canada, the condition described to him was surely that of "polyhedrosis virus", which he states also affects other species, although he implies there may be some inherited resistance in some individuals and lines.
At the end of the season, 16 cocoons remained of the original line, and 13 from the new "red" line. There appeared to be no difference in size between the brood reared indoors verses the one reared outdoors. The outside brood, however, seemed to grow larger faster. It was assumed that sunlight may have an influence on the color of the headdress of the 5th instar larvae, as those reared indoors tended towards orange, and those outdoors had a predominance of yellow.
Spring came early to this geographic area in 1998, and the cecropia began eclosing in early May. It was this year that I reasoned that since it is standard practice to inbreed my family of racing pigeons, surely the same should at least be attempted with lepidoptera (though sibling to sibling pairings are not favored in pigeons).
There is no way to perform a father to daughter or mother to son pairing, as the parents would not survive to see the maturation of their young. I had no knowledge of a method to produce an uncle to niece/aunt to nephew pairing (though I have since learned it is possible to postpone eclosing by another year by keeping the cocoon under cold storage), so I attempted a sibling pairing with the hopes of producing the elusive albino.
Sibling pairings were performed in both my cecropia lines (and also my promethea line). On 6/3/98, I successfully mated a pair of siblings from my original line, and on 6/14/98 made a sibling pairing from the new "red" line. Incidentally, the female used in this pairing was even more striking than her mother. A gorgeous brother to this female was not coaxed into breeding, so another brother was used.
The red and white color bands of the hindwings of this line were very distinct, and this next generation had even more red spread over the wings than their mother. (Please note: the "red" moths referred to thus far still phenotypically resemble the wild type, they simply have more red dusting than what is usually seen in this species.)
No physical abnormalities were apparent in any of the larvae of either line, however as to color changes, they appeared as follows: The original line had no physical or color variants. The "red" line produced about 40% light brown hatchlings, as compared to the black siblings (about 60%). This "sub-line" was separated from the normal colored siblings, and reared indoors. They were reared on apple leaves, and reference notes now begin to get sketchy. Though no mention exists of descriptions of fourth and fifth instar larvae, second instar larvae appear a beautiful yellow-gold color, and third instar larvae have brown spots where the usual black markings would appear.
If memory serves me correctly, though there was no strikingly noticeable difference in color between fifth instar larvae of the red line and wild type, the red line seemed to have a more transparent skin and a hint of more yellow-green in the area in back of the head. I am hoping to get 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th instar photographs this season.
Both lines began very hardy this year with over 200 larvae in each, however the "drip' culled the broods to 38 cocoons in the original line and 14 in the red line. Though the disease was devastating to the cecropia this season, it passed over the other four species I was working this same year.
The color differences of the instars is frequently referred to in my notes:
"10-18-98 The red strain's lighter colored larvae still remain a fascination to me. I reared them separately, starting them indoors and eventually moving them outside to the branches when bigger (2nd instar). There were virtually no differences in color or form from their separated black siblings (after they reached the 5th instar), except for a lighter yellow-green "collar" around the neck and possibly - assuming it wasn't something I simply willed myself into seeing - being more "transparent" as to their internal organs".
6-15-99 The peak of emergence this year took place approximately 5-15-99. All of the phenotypically wild type individuals of both my line and the red line, had come and gone in the first 3 weeks. About June 1st, an individual of the red (brown larval) sub-line emerged. The moment of truth had come sooner than expected, as a very striking rust-colored male hung to dry its wings. My curiosity and excitement grew as the wings expanded and the sun shone off the dazzling red wings. Its size was relatively small, comparative in size to a large female C. promethea. Except for the white eye spots and light purple tinges at the apex of the forewings, the wings and body displayed varying shades of this rust red, as if the red band of the hindwing had been spread over the entire moth.
After days of unsuccessful attempts at breeding, a photo was taken and he was finally dispatched and put on the drying board. A handful of cocoons remained, and about five days after the emergence of the red male ("red" from here on out will refer to a phenotypically red-colored cecropia), it was determined that another of the red line was attempting to emerge.
After waiting a day, nothing had appeared. The next morning, a number of wild males were found dead on the ground outside the holding cage. By noon there was still no successful emergence. Manual extraction of a completely red female was performed, and it was discovered she had rotated in the cocoon and could not exit herself. As she could not escape to expand and dry her wings, they remained stunted while she lived. I had suspected that even though she was trapped in the cocoon, she was calling in males, which would explain the dead males mentioned earlier.
A second red female was manually extracted, but not soon enough. She expired within 24 hours. The larger red female that survived was bred to a wild, male and her young distributed to apple and wild hazelnut. Her phenotypically wild colored sisters were also bred to wild males. Both broods were reared separately. Forty cocoons of the red/wild pairing were produced by the end of the season, and about 50 from the phenotypically wild-type sister/wild male.
Last year I had begun to suspect a simple recessive gene to be responsible for the red factor. If this proves true, the products of the red female/wild male pairing will be 100% +//r (where "+" represents the normal wild type color gene, and "r" represents the recessive red gene), thus producing a normal colored cecropia. Performing the Punnet square for her sister's young, then, would produce 25% of those offspring carrying +//r. The plan for next season is to determine for certain that the red gene is recessive. To verify this, 3 types of pairings are be planned:
1. attempt at least one sibling/sibling pairing of the red line (young of the genotypically red female/wild male, which should be phenotypically wild type individuals). If the red gene is recessive, each pairing will produce 25% brown young. 2. attempt a good number of cousin/cousin pairings of the two red lines (young of the red female bred to young of her phenotypically wild sister's). Again using basic genetics, about 25% of the pairings should produce 25% brown larvae.
3. attempt at least one pairing of a daughter of the red female (+//r), to a wild male (+//+).
The young of the normal colored sister had spun their cocoons by the final days of July, 1999. They were successfully reared on sassafras with no occurrence of the "drip", ending with a total of 85 cocoons. By 8-16-99, the first of the brown brood had spun, most being reared on butternut and a few on hazelnut. The final count was about forty cocoons.
All cocoons of all species left in refrigerator until 5/9/00, due to uncertain weather conditions here last spring. As suspected, all cecropia emerging last year were phenotypically wild type. Pairings progressed the rest of that month and into mid-June, and were as follows:
Brood 1: Product of sibling/sibling paring (of young of red female/wild male) 5 pairings of this type were made.
Brood 2: Product of cousin/cousin pairings (of young of red female/wild male and young of her sisters' products of pairings with wild males). 12 pairings of this type were made.
Brood 3: One of the red female's sisters (wild phenotype) was paired to a wild male.
Brood 4: Another sister of the red female (wild phenotype) was paired to a wild male.
The products of brood 2 were the first to hatch. Literally hundreds of eggs hatched up to the point of the 11th pairing, and still no sign of the brown larvae. I had almost given the red strain up for lost when finally the 11th and 12th batches produced the telltale light-brown larvae. There were approximately 100 in all, which was about 25% of the total eggs laid from the 11th and 12th pairings. This further confirmed my suspicions that the red gene is recessive to the wild phenotype.
Brood 1 produced at least 200 brown larvae, and brood 3 produced none whatsoever, just as anticipated. Brood 4, however, was a complete surprise, as approximately 50% were brown larvae. Obviously the wild male called in by this female also carried the red gene, although I am almost certain that no males released earlier in the season could have still been viable to breed with this female. This indicates that the red gene may be more common in this area than expected.
Pairings for 2000, then, produced red type larvae in broods 1,2 and 4. As brood 4 was the product of a wild male and my red line female, it must be assumed that this brood will be the least inbred, and probably the healthiest. All inbreeding in 2001 will be products of this brood with brood 2 (which would also be less inbred than brood 1), and wild stock.
Conclusion: Though no albino genes were brought forth from these two lines of cecropia, inbreeding of lepidoptera appears to be an effective method of uncovering recessive genes. It is apparent from the aforementioned breeding history and mating study that the red gene is indeed, recessive. It has yet to be demonstrated, however, that successive inbreeding, especially repeated sibling pairings, would be of any benefit to the long-range health of the line.
It seems prudent to inbreed only every other year, thus crossing out to wild stock on the off years to maintain the vitality of the strain. If uncle/niece or aunt/nephew pairings were successful, this method too would be preferable to sibling pairings. The elusive albino will undoubtedly remain just that, until such time others are coaxed into attempting this method of unveiling recessive traits.
Incidentally, in a prior email to Bill Oehlke, he stated that after viewing a photograph of the first red male that I probably possessed the only line of red cecropia currently known. I have had other opportunities to share rare organisms with others slip through my hands due to some sort of loss of the particular species, and would not want this to be repeated. With that in mind, I will attempt to make available at an affordable price to other collectors, specimens of this eye-pleasing red line.
My email address is: jimybuternutseed@hotmail.com. I will also attempt to create a website which would display the various instars and adult moths. Contact me after 6-15-01 as to the success of red cecropia emergence and availability of specimens. Shipments will be made on a first-come, first-serve basis.
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