Hawk Moth News

Our two remaining Death's Head Hawk Moths have finally pupated. No sign of the escapee, so we'll just have to hope he is safe somewhere and appears in a few weeks time. In the pictures below you can see the dark red/brown pupae and the nest of paper that he made. You can also see the discarded skin (including face and legs) that he shed one last time to become a pupae.

If you look closely in this picture you can see the shape of the caterpillar that will develop into a moth inside the pupae. It has a segmented body with little holes down the side. The holes are the spiracles that are present on the caterpillar and moth and allow it to breath. The left hand side will be the head end of the moth and you can see the shape of the folded up wings down the side of the body.

Bug Mad Girl has also been given some more Hawk Moth eggs by Uncle Caterpillar. They won't get as big as the Death's Heads, but they will still keep BMG amused for the next few weeks.

These are Silver Stripped Hawk Moths and have started to hatch this morning. They're still very tiny, but will grow fast. They're eating Virginia Creeper, which is good news as we have masses of it growing over the front of the house.

Silver Stripped Hawk Moths
These hatched a few minutes ago and are now eating their empty egg shells

Silver Stripped Hawk Moths - These hatched last night and have started eating Virginia Creeper.
Note how their tails have turned black already.

These are some Impatiens Hawk Moth eggs. Look closely and you can see the black dots inside the eggs where the caterpillars are developing. These should hatch in the next day or two.