Cocoon

No, these are not alien pods that need to be kept in a pool of water in St Petersburg, Florida.

The Polyphemus Moths have gone to cocoon and we have carefully pinned them to the screens of the moth rearing enclosure for their long winter’s nap.

The Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus) is a member of the Wild Silk Moth (Saturniidae) family. Each cocoon is made of raw silk produced by the salivary glands of the caterpillar. These threads of raw silk have been measured at 300 to 900 meters in length in the domesticated Silkmoth (Bombyx mori ) of China. Inside each silken cocoon is a dark brown to black pupa that contains the insect as it progresses through metamorphosis.

For further camouflage and stability, the Polyphemus moth often incorporate a branch and several leaves into the cocoon which helps to shield the pupa during metamorphosis. These moths will generally overwinter in their pupa and emerge in the spring as adult moths.

What’s in a Name? The Free Dictionary provides several possible etymological roots for the genus Antheraea including

• Medieval Latin anthera, pollen, from Latin, a medicine extracted from flowers,
• Greek, from feminine of antheros, flowery, from anthos, flower.

In Greek mythology the one-eyed Cyclops Polyphemus is the son of Poseidon and is encountered by Odysseus and his band of sailors in Homer’s Odyssey. The moths were given this species epithet in honor of the large eyespot that they bear on their hindwings as adults.

So there you have it, a flowery single-eyed giant in cocoon.