Crumpled wings from chrysalis

[Joseph G. Kunkel]

Andria and James,

It is possible that your treatment of the cultures resulted in the lack
of proper emergence.  Lack of sufficient moisture in the food could
leave the pupae without sufficient hydraulic power to expand their
wings.  Usually the supplier of the culture provides all necessary food
and containers for the growth.  Conditions during shipment could have
resulted in some drying of the food prior to arrival?  However, there
are also many diseases including bacteria and viruses that attack leps
and leave them crippled to various extents.  Once a virus infects a
culture facility it is almost impossible to eliminate it.  

I worked with Jerry Wyatt at Yale University in the late '60s and his
culture of Cecropia developed a polyhedrosis virus which forced him to
drop Cecropia as his experimental animal.  He switched to studying
_Locusta migratoria_.

Bacterial diseases can usually be treated by cleaning the culture area
well with disinfectants.  

If a disease was involved, it may have originated with the supplier and
perhaps the list may provide corroboration of other peoples
experiences.  Who was the supplier?  What are the minimum precautions a
shipper takes to insure safe and healthy arrival?  It is an amazing
system that can provide a valuable 'nature' experience for students.  It
is difficult to turn a 'bad, tragic experience' like this into a good
one for your students but depending on age it might be an opportunity to
discuss all the things that nature provides, free of charge, that a
supplier needs to be careful about.  It is also an opportunity to
discuss that 99+% of the larvae in nature do not survive for various
reasons.

Joe

Andria & James Wood wrote:
> 
> To the Lepid-lovers,
> 
>    That almost sounds like a disease doesn't it!?  Anyway, my wife is a
> 2nd Grade school teacher and every year they do a module on butterflies,
> during which time they recieve a kit with caterpillars and food. ...

-- 
______________________________
Joe Kunkel, Professor
Biology Department, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
joe at bio.umass.edu  http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/kunkel/