cecropias- double brood?

[Chris Conlan]

While it is rather rare, it does happen (at least in a captive setting).  I
used to raise cecropia all the time when I was a kid.  Most summers I would
raise 40 or 50 of them and almost every year 1 or 2 of them would emerge
several weeks after spinning.  I was in S. California so I would remove my
cocoons from the fridge in February and usually had moths and eggs by
March.  It was very common for me to have cocoons by the end of May or
early June.  My guess is that the daylength at this time of year (being
longer than a normal wild larva would see during the later instars) somehow
broke diapause on those couple of odd cocoons that emerged.  Similar to
this, I have had second broods on H. gloveri from AZ several times if I
raised the larvae under long day conditions and left the cocoons out in a
warm room.  Anyway, I wouldn't worry about your cecropia cocoons.  Most
likely, they will not emerge until you get them cold for a few months.
Best of luck

Chris
conlan at adnc.com