The Blessed Event

Back in the winter, a friend was given a luna moth cocoon as a gift. This might sound like a slightly strange present, but she texted me excitedly, and I got excited, too. She called me the other day, yelled, "It's happening!", and I got there in time for much of the blessed event. It was so interesting to watch that I didn't get a lot of pictures, but here are the few I did remember to take.

I've seen a few luna moths before, but never one emerging from its cocoon. We looked up lots of information during eclosion (the technical term for coming out of the cocoon) and read that the new moth's wrinkled wings would get pumped full of hemolymph (what invertebrates have instead of blood), and then its wings would dry and harden. At that point, the moth can fly. My friend kept it overnight because she thought it would be safer from predators, but let it go the next morning. We had also read that adult moths only live for about a week, and because they don't have any mouth parts, they don't eat, and really just mate and lay eggs during their brief life. She didn't want this poor moth missing out on anything!

We think this one is female because its antennae aren't very large. Males have much larger and more feathery antennae, the better to "smell" the pheromones released by the females. So fly free and lay eggs, Lady Luna. I'm going to be keeping an eye out for luna moth caterpillars and cocoons this summer and fall. This is something I'd love to see again!

Here's hoping you get to experience some lovely natural blessings during this long weekend!
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Just to let you know: Blogger has stopped emailing me when people comment. This seems to be the case for everyone on the platform, and I really hope that this is fixed soon, but it doesn't seem to be anything that I can remedy myself. Please know that I do read, value, and appreciate all of your comments. I hope this issue is short-lived and I hope to be able to reply to you very soon!