Any Polyphemus moth experts?

[Mike Soukup]

I recall that recently, on this thread, someone stated that they had never seen
Poly sib's mate....I don't recall who.  And, at the time, I had not ever seen
this either.  However, as I write, I have a pair of sibs mating in the cage.
Definite sibs as I only reared about 20 of the first brood this year.  Of the
20, the first 18 to eclose were male and all of what I call the "red form"
(which I haven't seen in a few years).  Yesterday, the first female eclosed and
was of the "normal" tan coloration and it and a red male mated last night.

Kurt Jacobs wrote:

> > I've read and heard repeatedly that in the Boston area that Polyphemus
> have
> > multiple broods
>
> Heres some partial quotes from MONA Fascicle 20.2B(Ferguson, 1972).  "There
> is definately only one breed in the North, but two in the South.  About the
> latitude of Virginia, there are indications of two generations, ............
> The species is reported to be partially double-brooded in Cape May County,
> New Jersey(Worth, 1970).
>
> The amount of daylight that your larvae expereinced may effect their
> diapause, but maybe this species diapause is more of a genetic thing.
> Possibly the Polyphemus polyphemus that had genes for double brood were
> eliminated from the Canada area due to the environment.  This is just
> speculation on my part, i would like to know if this has been proven through
> genetic research, or if it is faculative light-controlled or temperature
> controlled diapause, or something else,  in the Polyphemus polyphemus.

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