Polyphemus

Chris Conlan conlan at adnc.com
Fri Aug 6 20:37:13 EDT 1999


Easiest way to sex the naked pupa is to picture an imaginary line down the
center of the ventral side from the head to the tail that splits right down
the area where the wing cases touch together.  Count down the first 4
complete abdominal segments below the wing case.  On that 4th segment where
the imaginary line crosses is where you find the difference.  Males will
have a complete segment whereas females will have a slit or notch that
divides the segment (sometimes it can even appear as a bulge).  The slit
often appears to start as a "V" shape that starts with wide end down by the
tip of the abdomen and culminating in the narrow end of the "V" splitting
that 4th segment.  This varies in how obvious it is among species but it's
usually easy to see in Saturniids.  Having both sexes on hand usually makes
seeing the difference a bit easier as well.

Chris
----------
>From: joezeppy at aol.com (Joezeppy)
>To: leps-l at lists.yale.edu
>Subject: Re: Polyphemus
>Date: Thu, Aug 5, 1999, 11:17 PM
>

>And how many segmants do each sex have?
>
>


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