"On the first day of Spring Mother Nature gave to me, a freshly emerged Manduca sextaaaaaa" :P
At around 8:00-8:30PM my lovely angel finally came into the world (again) as a beautiful adult Carolina Sphinx Moth (Manduca sexta). Totally unexpected and wonderful shock, and on top of that on the first day of Spring.
Talk about irony. Don't you just love it? ^^ I had heard quite a bit of rustling and I was thinking "WTF is that?" knowing that we get all sorts of critters in here (and I was hoping it wasn't a mouse XD) only to look and see the pupa moving and fall off the sponge I had it on. It then "burst open" with this lovely angel thrashing around to get out.
It immediately starting climbing everything to get to a higher spot to expand it's wings tried to help it out by letting it crawl on my finger hoping it would settle there........no it had other ideas ^^;;;; It had wound up crawling onto my shoulder at which point I just put it back into the pavillion thingy (what do you call those netted butterfly enclosures anyway?) where it climbed to the top and eventually settled down to expand it's wings.
Took about an hour or so give or take. I sat there the whole time and watched it taking pics & vids at different intervals. Since it was already dark out some are a bit blurry but what can you do when the lighting atm sucks? :P Work with what you got that's what.
Of the brief minute or two I got to hold it I can tell you 2 things.
1. They as adults also have quite a grip (the larvae did too, perhaps even more so being that they're nothing but muscles designed for munching, chomping, etc).
2. They have a scent after they emerge. Idk how to explain it......it's not like anything I've ever smelt before. I know there's a "freshness" to it. Idk what it was that gave it that scent.....meconium?
And speaking of meconium the little sucker had dripped a nice splotch of it on the "floor" of the pavillion thingy......I do hope that'll come out easier later. XD
"Safe and warm I was born in a beige colored coat
Then I traded for wings built to dazzle and float........."
I cannot stress to you the utter joy I felt through out the entire miracle that was taking place in my house. And as I sit here thinking about it (in general) I'm utterly baffled and amazed on how these lovely and often misunderstood creatures come to be.
I once again have to thank the Lord for allowing me to enjoy his epic creations. I love every single one of them to pieces. And I hope that I get to enjoy more experiences with them in the future. Every year for the rest of my life.......♥
Found this while I was doing brief but thorough research on my lovely angels. I want to know what I have (male or female) as sexing Sphinx moths for me at least is not as easy as other moths (i.e. Saturniids) because their antennae aren't easily distinguishable.
But the general gist, females have thinner antennae & males have thicker antennae and after looking at photos of both males and females I think it's a male. ^^*
I'll have to wait until daylight to start getting better pictures/videos. Now I must go to bed. I have unfortunately picked up the habit of becoming nocturnal like my lovely heteroceran (moths for you non ento/lepto geeks) friends and that's no bueno.........it's already 4:40AM XD
Play time with the Sphinxy continues tomorrow.
"I might leave very soon I might soar through the air
Weave a golden cocoon hung with silk fine and fair
I might leave this behind all this glitter and shine
And go far from the star of the show.........
....Oh there must be a reason for this time and season
As empty and long as it seems but there's more to this moth
Then just fabulous cloth so I'll keep holding onto my dreams......."
ɛïɜ
2 comments:
Some really pretty butterfly photos. Did you take them yourself?
Most of them yes.... and thank you!! The ones from the museum visits & personal observations.
The others I've found browsing the internet, got off of Wikipedia etc. ^^
Post a Comment