CLOSED: Does this look familiar to anyone??

A teacher at my daughters school brought this in as a big green caterpillar that she saw crossing the sidewalk. Next day went to school and it was in this cocoon. I should have put something there for size, it is about 2" long and about 1" in diameter.

Any ideas of where I should start looking to be able to ID.

I did not get a chance to see it as the caterpillar. They just said big and neon green. They dont remember seeing a horn. It pupated on the side of a glass jar and attached the other side to a papertowel that they had on top. I pulled off all the paper towel to get the picture.

chris

So far I am thinking it might be a silkworm cocoon, anyone have any knowledge of these to know for sure?

Well, the silkworm that silk is made from is not found in the US...but there is a whole family of silkworm moths called Saturniidae. One of them has a coccoon like that (that I know of) and there may be others. It might be the Polyphemus moth, they have big green caterpillars... somebody around here might know

I agree, it looks like a silkworm moth cocoon, here's a pic of a Cecropia moth cocoon, it looks similar:

http://www.wormspit.com/cecropia.htm

I knew you guys would know! Thanks, the teacher will be very happy. Not happy about waiting till spring, but at least it is a very cool moth!

Does it have to stay outside? They keep it in the 2nd grade classroom.

chris

I would leave it in a garage or a place that is about the same temp as outside. That way it probably won't emerge in the middle of winter. And, the poor things only live about a week; they have reduced mouthparts so do not feed, just mate, lay eggs and that's it.

ok, maybe I will babysit it until spring for them. They can have it back in the classroom in March or April. What do you think?

That sounds good, the autumn brood needs a cold period of at least 45 days of close to freezing temps, or they will not develop successfully in the spring.

Good luck Chris...it's exciting!

Thanks!

but it may eclose now too so don't keep it in a small place. Make sure it can come out and hang so it can spread its wings. All my Polyphemus Moths just eclosed this past week

about how long are they in cocoon? Today is 1 week for this one.

chris

That's true Donna, who knows what the cutoff date is for the late ones, especially for the south.

When we were kids growing up in the Los Angeles area, we would find these silkworrms and the cocoons in the Mullberry trees (fruit type) and they made great school projects in grammer school