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Posted On: May 26th 2025, 01:57 pm
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Cecropia caterpillar shedding its skin!
A moment we sometimes wait hours just to watch - the inevitable yet often unseen process of a caterpillar molting its exoskeleton in order to grow larger! And what better caterpillar to demonstrate than the magnificently colorful larva of our cecropia moth, Hyalophora cecropia.
The most reliable way we can determine that a caterpillar is getting close to shedding (aka pre-shed) is by looking at its head. At the beginning of the video, look at the dark head capsule of the cecropia and you can see that it appears undersized and oddly pushed forward. At this point in time, the new and larger head of the caterpillar is fully developed underneath, and the old head is empty and just waiting to be popped off during the shed. Before every open hours and @the_caterpillar_lab traveling program, we hand pick pre-shed caterpillars that we believe will shed in front of visitors so we can share these unbelievable moments!
Figuring out the exact timing of when a caterpillar shed is actually kicking off can be tricky sometimes, but the key moment of no return is the appearance of thick white lines that start to grow horizontally across the caterpillar’s body. Those white lines are actually the internal breathing tubes (tracheal tubes) that caterpillars shed along with their exoskeleton! Look closely and you can see how these tracheal tubes are pulled out from the new external breathing holes, known as spiracles!
Once initiated, caterpillar molting (aka ecdysis) is a dramatic and rapid process. It’s not long until you can see the exoskeleton split towards the front, creating an exit for the caterpillar to shimmy its way out of the old skin. The videos are sped up for ease of viewing, but the entire shed only took a few minutes!
Towards the end of the video, you can see our cecropia caterpillar sitting idly by both its shed skin and old head capsule. After all of that work, the caterpillar takes some time to allow the fresh exoskeleton to harden. As soon as that’s handled, the caterpillar is eager to begin eating again in order to grow into its new, much roomier skin!
#caterpillar #cecropia #shedding #molting #ecdysis
A moment we sometimes wait hours just to watch - the inevitable yet often unseen process of a caterpillar molting its exoskeleton in order to grow larger! And what better caterpillar to demonstrate than the magnificently colorful larva of our cecropia moth, Hyalophora cecropia.
The most reliable way we can determine that a caterpillar is getting close to shedding (aka pre-shed) is by looking at its head. At the beginning of the video, look at the dark head capsule of the cecropia and you can see that it appears undersized and oddly pushed forward. At this point in time, the new and larger head of the caterpillar is fully developed underneath, and the old head is empty and just waiting to be popped off during the shed. Before every open hours and @the_caterpillar_lab traveling program, we hand pick pre-shed caterpillars that we believe will shed in front of visitors so we can share these unbelievable moments!
Figuring out the exact timing of when a caterpillar shed is actually kicking off can be tricky sometimes, but the key moment of no return is the appearance of thick white lines that start to grow horizontally across the caterpillar’s body. Those white lines are actually the internal breathing tubes (tracheal tubes) that caterpillars shed along with their exoskeleton! Look closely and you can see how these tracheal tubes are pulled out from the new external breathing holes, known as spiracles!
Once initiated, caterpillar molting (aka ecdysis) is a dramatic and rapid process. It’s not long until you can see the exoskeleton split towards the front, creating an exit for the caterpillar to shimmy its way out of the old skin. The videos are sped up for ease of viewing, but the entire shed only took a few minutes!
Towards the end of the video, you can see our cecropia caterpillar sitting idly by both its shed skin and old head capsule. After all of that work, the caterpillar takes some time to allow the fresh exoskeleton to harden. As soon as that’s handled, the caterpillar is eager to begin eating again in order to grow into its new, much roomier skin!
#caterpillar #cecropia #shedding #molting #ecdysis
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