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Volume 30, Number 2
111
COLLECTING COCOONS OF CALLOSAMIA SECURIFERA (SATURNIIDAE)1
Richard S. Peigler
Department of Entomology and Economic Zoology Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29631
Little was published on Callosamia securifera (Maassen) until Ferguson's work in 1972. Skinner (1920) first synonymized the names C. securifera and C. Carolina Jones, but the moth was long considered a subspecies of C. angulifera (Walker). Because the diurnal males are not phototaxic and the species inhabits remote coastal areas of southeastern United States, specimens are still comparatively uncommon in collections. It is my purpose to provide some helpful advice for anyone wishing to collect cocoons of this moth.
Choosing Correct Habitat
I have searched successfully for cocoons of C. securifera in Florida. Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. However, most of what is said in this paper applies mainly to the habitats in South Carolina where I have collected most.
The hostplant is sweetbay (Magnolia virginiana L.), but the tree ranges much farther north along the Atlantic Coast, west along the Gulf Coast and inland from both coasts than does the moth (Peigler, 1975). It is, therefore, advisable to go to or near localities were C. securifera is known to occur. Sweetbay may be easily confused with red bay (Persea borbonia (L.) Sprengel), but the latter does not have white undersides of leaves which help to recognize sweetbay.
There will be many areas near or between known localities of the moth which will appear suitable for searching because of the presence of the host tree, but may be unproductive. Expansive fields with standing water throughout may have hundreds of sweetbays, but I have never found even an empty cocoon in such places. Even if C. securifera were present, it would be very hard to find cocoons unless the population was high because of the high density of host trees on which to look. Other habitats where I have not found cocoons are thin woods under towering pines and mixed hardwood forests. Perhaps females prefer to fly and oviposit in the open. The most rewarding habitats are along
1 Published by permission of the Director of the South Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station. Technical Contribution No. 1250.
112
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
roadsides in which the sweetbays are small and in the open and a lot of areas can be checked with an automobile.
Choosing Correct Season
In the fall or early winter searching may be very slow because many green leaves are still on the host trees. This situation exists until early December in the Carolinas and Georgia. On the other hand, even the tip leaves may be lost by March so that sweetbays are not readily seen. At such times I spend more time looking for the host than the cocoons themselves. Therefore, December and January are the best times to plan a collecting trip.
Comments
Dr. R. B. Dominick reports that he usually finds only one cocoon per tree (see Ferguson, 1972, p. 242). I would agree that this is true for the areas in South Carolina where he collects (northern Charleston Co. and eastern Berkeley Co.). However, in western Berkeley Co. where I collect most often, the population of the moth is probably much higher, and I seldom find isolated cocoons. The most viable number of cocoons I found on a single tree was six, and several times I found four and five. Often an empty female cocoon is found along with viable ones, indicating that females often mate and begin ovipositing on the same tree on which they fed as larvae. Usually over 90 percent of the sweetbays examined will have no cocoons hanging on them.
The populations may fluctuate or move. One winter I found 18 viable cocoons along a highway in western Berkeley Co. during three days of searching. The following winter I found 60 viable cocoons in four hours along the same stretch of road. This past winter the population was again high in that area.
Cocoons may occur on a tree from 1-20 ft. above ground level, but most are about 5 ft. Most sweetbays in the areas where I have collected are secondary growth sprouts from cut trees, and if a cocoon is too high to reach, the thin tree may be easily bent over. Brown (1972 and pers. comm.) searches tall sweetbays in central Florida with binoculars.
It is important to train one's eyes to look for hanging clumps of red-brown sweetbay leaves among green ones. The weight of a swinging cocoon detaches leaves from the stem so that cocoons seldom are covered with green, living leaves. The leaves on old cocoons of the previous season are bleached or have weathered away. A collector
Volume 30, Number 2
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looking for whitish cocoons will probably find more empty than viable ones.
Few insects feed on sweetbay, but chewed leaves may not mean C. securifera is present. Grasshoppers or larvae of Papilio palamedes Drury may have done the damage. In southeastern North Carolina I have seen larvae of Epimecis sp. (Geometridae) feeding commonly on this tree in summer. Not all large cocoons on sweetbay may be C. securifera because larvae of the saturniid Antheraea polyphemus (Cramer) sometimes move from adjacent red maples (Acer rubrum L.) to spin their cocoons on sweetbay. Often nests or egg sacs of large spiders, including the green lynx (Peucetia viridam (Hentz)) and a yellow species of Thomisidae, are attached with sweetbay leaves to stems. The tendrils of Smilax spp. vines commonly hold dead sweetbay leaves up in trees. The collector should examine possibilities closely so that a C. securifera cocoon is not overlooked.
Acknowledgments
I wish to thank Dr. Richard B. Dominick and Mr. Charles R. Edwards for initial help in searching for cocoons of this moth. Drs. Merle Shepard and G. R. Carner of Clemson University helped with the manuscript.
Literature Cited
Brown, L. N. 1972. Mating behavior and life habits of the sweet-bay silk moth
(Callosamia Carolina). Science 176: 73-75. Ferguson, D. C. 1972. Bombycoidea, Saturniidae (in part). In R. B. Dominick
et al., The Moths of America North of Mexico, fasc. 20.2B, p. 155-269, pis.
12-22. E. W. Classey Ltd. London. Peigler, R. S. 1975. The geographical distribution of Callosamia securifera
(Saturniidae). J. Lepid. Soc. 29: 188-191. Skinner, H. 1920. Callosamia Carolina and Samia securifera (Lepid., Saturniidae).
Ent. News 31: 107.
A GYANDROMORPHIC LYMANTRIA D1SPAR (LYMANTRIIDAE)
It should not be too surprising to find a gyandromorphic Gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar (L.)) among the hundred thousands that have been defoliating trees in New Jersey the last few years. A single gyandromorphic, adult female was caught 6 July 1974 in Glendola, Monmouth Co., New Jersey in a light trap put up by the College of Agriculture, Rutgers University. The left antenna is female and the right, male. It is otherwise a normal specimen without any other deviations showing. The specimen is in the Rutgers Collection. Dr. J. P. Reed kindly loaned it to me for study.
Joseph Muller, R.D. #1, Lebanon, New Jersey 08833.