Moth on a leash.

[Dan Chaffee]

On Tue, 06 Jun 2000 02:15:48 GMT, "Kurt Jacobs"
<morphidae at earthlink.net> wrote:


>In order to get a pairing, two females (about 30 hours into their adult
>life) were carefully tied to a 2 foot long strand of dental floss between
>the thorax and the abdomen.  Then the two tethered females were taken to a
>swamp where cecropia is fairly common and tied each to a tree along a
>clearing about 50 yards apart (June 1).  I was amazed when the next day one
>of the females had brought in a mate.    This wild male was nearly twice the
>size of the bred female.  I brought the joined couple home and they
>separated about 2 hours later.  The other female either escaped or was taken
>by birds.

I've had good luck tethering H. Euryalis to attract wild male
Cecropias here in Kansas City. The hybrid eggs are usually fertile,
and the resulting moths are cecropia-sized and often as brilliantly
red as the Euryalis parent. Cocoons usually favor Euryalis
in shape. Anyway, I find it's crucial to guard the female during
the time of daybreak, since birds WILL eat the moth if left
alone for the final minutes of the calling time. 

D Chaffee