Lepidoptera in Winter February 17, 2008
Posted by Jennifer Schlick in insects, winter.trackback
Occasionally during my winter walks my eye is drawn by signs of butterflies or moths. I wrote about one of them in early December, which, technically, was still fall, though there was snow! The Pine Tube Moth overwinters as a pupa inside a tube constructed by the larva from pine needles.
Not all butterflies and moths do the same…
Monarchs migrate.
Baby Isabella Tiger Moths spend the winter as larva. You might know them as Wooly Bears. (I remember the first time I discovered this. I was cross-country skiing near a building that had overlapping shingle siding. I watched a Chickadee fly to the side of the house and return to a branch with a Wooly Bear in its beak. I ponder to this day: How did that Chickadee know to find that caterpillar in that exact spot? X-ray vision, perhaps?)
I’ve been walking by a cocoon the last few days. I don’t know what kind of moth is inside. It’s quite the elaborate shelter, though, isn’t it? I’d love to find the larva one day in the process of making this. (If you know of the video on YouTube, please tell us in your comment!) Do you know the maker of this cocoon?
Gypsy Moths overwinter as eggs:
Look for Gypsy moth eggs on the bark of trees. Slip your glove off and pet them gently. It’s one of the softest things in the forest! (P.S. click here for a picture of a female adult laying the eggs.)
And I wrap this up with a photo “borrowed” from Tom (a.k.a. Mon@rch):
The Mourning Cloak butterfly overwinters as an adult, tucked in behind loose bark, or holed up in a tree den… And I look for them every winter… And I have yet to find one… (There’s GOT to be one somewhere behind some of that Shagbark Hickory bark I walk past nearly every day!)
The Mourning Cloaks will start appearing in early spring… or maybe in late winter if it is mild enough… So keep your eyes open!
So much variety in nature… It never ceases to amaze me.
Ooooh! Update (3/17/08). Here’s a great picture of a butterfly in winter:
I don’t know the species. But it seems to thrive in snow!
Your cocoon looks a lot like a cecropia moth’s construction…
Aha! Now I know what it was I photographed last summer at my humming bird feeder – a Mourning Cloak!
Thank you.
Peace
The large cocoon appears to be in Bergman Park. I should take a walk over there.
Looking at your cocoon . . . I do agreee with swamp4me that it does look like one of the Silkmoth’s but not familiar enough with a cecropia to know if it’s that species of moth!
I need to get and look for some local lepidoptera. They can’t all be in New York!
I cast a vote fro cecropia, too. (about 3 inches long of dead leaves?)
We found a similar cocoon years ago and kept it on our back porch–one day we woke to find her, fully fanning her wings on the back screen door. She was a lovely cecropia.
Interesting cocoon! I can’t wait to see if it hatches.
Tom
Neato – that’s very interesting how the different species have such varied ways of wintering!
Wow Jennifer, I realize how truly UN-observant I am after reading your posts. Now I have some more interesting things to look for the next time I’m out hiking in the woods.
I can see a cocoon book in your future! Lovely pictures and info, I have no clue what type of cocoons you have, I learn from you!
The photo of the gypsy moth eggs scares me. I have been keeping an eye out for them on our land. Forests within a few miles of here have been deforested by the moths. I only hope our woods survive because we are surrounded by farmlands. Interesting post–I will be out looking for cocoons!
I’ve wondered how the different species wintered – particularly those early risers in the spring. Thanks for the information … now let’s hope for an early spring so we can start searching!
[...] I suppose I should have included this one in my story about Lepidoptera in Winter! [...]