zayne's giant

Last fall Zayne found a little treasure. He proudly showed me his rare finding after he brought it home on a stick. It was a rather large chrysalis. Though I did not have much hope for it lasting the winter in his room, I consented to his desire to keep and "study" it. Mothers always have to give into the educational argument. A plastic container was our little morphing friend's home. Regularly Zayne checked on the little guy as he waited and waited. Last night Zayne's pet hatched and it was a moth. He was so excited he had to call us while we were at the concert to let us know.

This morning I was surprised to see how large the moth was, about 4" x 2.5" prompting Zayne to name him Giant. I loved the designs on Giant. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/ helped us identify the little guy as Antheraea Polyphemus, from the silkworm family. The site was informative and we learned a few things about Mr. Antheraea Polyphemus, which I won't bore you with. However, I will tell you that the lepidopterists that run the site did not have our Giant living in our county, so we email them about our sighting and attached a picture. We are all excited to hear back from them.

Giant stayed outside where we laid him all day long, never moving a centimeter. We were thrilled to discover that our little night creature flew away after sunset.

Update:

The lepidopterists over our area responded and has added Zayne's moth to the data base. Zayne is thrilled with the honor of finding the first Antheraea Polyphemus in Central Virginia.

Giant ate up his casing after hatching. These are the leaves left that surrounded the chrysalis. We found out that these guys do not eat as adults and mate within an hour after hatching. Most likely, Giant will not have any descendants since he spent his first night in Zayne's bedroom.