First time I have … Moths have a bad rep as being dull, drab pests, but these insects are fascinatingly diverse, from the huge Atlas moth to the caterpillars people eat! Examples of Eacles imperialis variation. That said, the two genders tend to have different ratios of yellow coloring making it possible to think a male and female are different species.
Photograph by Donald W. Hall , University of Florida. After dark, moths, as well as bats, take over the pollinating night shift.
I have included a link at the bottom to the complete webpage, however, here is the pertinent part excerpted from that webpage regarding the conditions for imperial moths to pupate. Moths are a polyphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order.There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of which have yet to be described.
Description. Legs are mostly covered in purple hairs. A female Imperial Moth let me pick her up from my porch walkway today. The imperial moth has evolved to look like rotting leaves. However, I have located an article posted on the internet that discusses rearing silk moths.
Eacles imperialis, the imperial moth, is a Nearctic member of the family Saturniidae and subfamily Ceratocampinae. Few moths have both the size and colors of the Imperial Moth.
So I can't comment from my own experience as to the behavior of your larva. Females are more yellow, while males have larger blotches of pink/purple (mauve) on their wings.
The species was first described by Dru Drury in 1773. Pupae work their way to the surface prior to emergence of the adults (Stratton-Porter 1921, Tuskes 1996).
Most species of moth are nocturnal, but there are also crepuscular and diurnal species. There are, of course, pros and cons to purchasing garden bugs to attack insects that you don't want in your garden.
Imperial moth, Eacles imperialis (Drury), fifth instar larval (prepupal) exuviae after emergence of pupa (exuviae stretched for photography).