1. Sleeping Bear Dunes, MI, 8/15/2007 - 2 cm; found lying in sand. Reminds me of this one.
2. Stoddard, NH, 12/30/07 - About 1 cm, attached to twig. I have found a number of similar cocoons in my travels, all with multiple
exit holes like this. I'm pretty sure they're braconids, but I'm curious how the larvae manage to form a collective covering around their individual cocoons.
3. Stoddard, NH, 12/30/07 - Pupal chamber made of wood fibers, attached to a tree trunk; 12 mm. Superficially resembles the structures
made by moths of some sort here and
here, but the long fibers in the construction of this one make me think perhaps beetle.
It didn't appear to be associated with any wood-boring activity.
4. Okefenokee Swamp, GA, 2/16/08 - 35 mm; attached to a twig along its whole length, like a cecropia, but much too small.
5. Petersham, MA, 1/31/08 - 5 mm; attached to white pine twig. It seems to be made of pine pitch, but the shape is very suspicious...
in another month or two I'll cut it open and see if there's anything inside.
6. Massachusetts, exact time and location unknown - 1 cm; 8 mm bent pupa inside. I'm told that some noctuids, e.g. Cucullia spp.,
make tough cocoons out of silk and excrement somewhat like this one.
7. Ocala National Forest, FL, 2/20/08 - Megalopyge opercularis?
8. Merritt Island NWR, FL, 2/20/08 - Megalopyge opercularis?
All images on this web site © 2008 by Charley Eiseman