- this video shows a Spotted Tussock Moth building its cocoon on September 7, 2015 in Juneau, Alaska.
- these caterpillars were searching for places to build their cocoons. The cocoons I saw were usually on the undersides of rocks.
- Once the cocoon is built they will pupate inside the cocoon and overwinter.
- Next spring they will emerge as adults.
- In these rocky areas they are fairly well protected from the weather.
- They obviously will be able to withstand freezing temperatures. Probably because they contain special antifreeze compounds.
- Many insects manage to survive freezing because they confine the ice to spaces between, rather than within, the cells of their bodies.
- To learn more about this mechanism look at To Freeze or Not to Freeze by Robert Armstrong and Marge Hermans.
- It would be interesting to try to find out just how these caterpillars construct their cocoons.
- The larva, commonly called a caterpillar, feeds and grows, usually through five or six instars. When fully grown, it transforms into a pupa, within a silken cocoon spun by the caterpillar.
