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Tag Archives: cocoon

An empty cocoon

17 Saturday Apr 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects

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Tags

British moths, cocoon, Elephant hawk-moth, Elephant hawk-moth pupa, moth pupa, pupa

I must admit that, at first sight, this object, which was lying on a dirt path in a paddock in my local country park, had me completely baffled. I even poked it with the toe of my shoe, thinking it might be poo. But, once I looked closer, I could see the outline of wings and realised it was an empty cocoon. But of what?

210417 cocoon (1)

Once I got home, I checked through the pupa images on Peter Eeles’s excellent UK Butterflies website but nothing seemed to fit. So, I posted photos of my find on Twitter and asked the man himself for help. Peter very quickly identified the cocoon as that of an Elephant hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor), a beautiful creature that I’ve not yet seen (click on the moth’s name to see a picture on the UK Moths website). At least now I know they can be found nearby.

210417 cocoon (2)

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Wild word: cocoon

29 Wednesday Aug 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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Tags

#WildWords, 5-spot Burnet, 6-spot Burnet, British moths, Burnet moth cocoon, cocoon, Five-spot Burnet moth, moth cocoon, Six-spot Burnet moth, wild words

Cocoon: Noun; A silky case spun by the larvae of many insects for protection as pupae (Oxford Dictionary).
The cocoons in my photos are those of Burnet moths, both 5-spot (below left) and 6-spot (below right): you can’t tell the difference in the cocoons from the outside – I just know which moths were present in the locations where I took my photos.

180828 5-spot burnet moth
180828 6-spot burnet moth

After hatching from their eggs, the caterpillars/larvae of both moths feed on plants from the pea family; the 6-spot burnet is particularly partial to Common bird’s-foot trefoil, which is why I see a lot of these moths at Cosmeston.

180828 occupied 5-spot pupa
180828 occupied 6-spot pupa

When they’re ready to pupate, the caterpillars find themselves a suitable location, often high up on a sturdy grass stem (though I have seen them on other plants), and spin an oval-shaped cocoon. The cocoons pictured above are still occupied by caterpillars in the throes of metamorphosing into moths, a process which takes about two weeks.

180828 empty cocoon (2)
180828 empty cocoon (1)

These are the empty cocoons that remain once the adult moths have emerged (with the remains of the larvae’s pupae cases poking out the tops). The cocoons are quite sturdy: their yellowish-white papery structures often seem to last for a month or more after the adults have departed or even until the grasses themselves collapse with the coming of the wild winds and chilly days of autumn.

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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