2022.10.09
整理後院時，無意中發現了它，躲在一片掉落在地上，已快乾枯的燈籠椒葉片上，一動也不動的。
它～是不是要結蛹了？！？在找適合的地方嗎？！？那跟我回家吧，讓你安全的結蛹羽化！
第一天，不太愛動，是白天在呼呼大睡嗎？
第二天早上，開始有了動靜～往廚房紙底下鑽，鑽破了一個洞，參考網路，發現它會吃馬鈴薯，切了一小塊給它（不能太大，網路說它會 drown），沒看它吃。發現它躲在乾成一團的燈籠椒葉片上，是想吃燈籠椒葉子嗎？弟弟摘來兩片送給它。到了晚上，好像也沒吃，有幾顆便便，可是此刻的它卻非常活躍，一直繞圈圈爬，似乎在找東西。
搞死了兩顆蛋蛋（壁虎蛋？），沒救活破了翅膀的蝴蝶，發現小兔子跑進院子裡，卻沒發現它卡在門縫裡而死得淒慘————這些慘痛的經驗都告訴我：我沒能力救活任何我想救活的小動物/昆蟲。我該留你嗎？如果你是在找食物，我卻沒找到適合你吃的，那你豈不是將你活活餓死？乘著夜晚，你非常活躍的時候，將你放在燈籠椒樹上，讓你在大自然裡自由的成長吧！（隔天也沒再看見它了，是躲到樹上去了嗎？希望是找到安全的地方了！祝福你）
不是每一隻蟲蟲都能成功結蛹。圖片裡只有最右邊那一隻成功結蛹。
看了這麽多失敗的案例，把你關在罐子裡，心裡也難免會擔心把你害死。
還是讓你在大自然裡探索轉化吧！
希望這個決定是對的！
這隻應該是 Manduca Sexta（Tobacco Hornworm）煙草天蛾，又名傳粉夜蛾。
What’s a Manduca?
“Giant baby is bigger than its parents!” may make a great cover story for a magazine that publishes fake news, but in the world of moths and butterflies, it isn’t unusual for the juvenile caterpillar to weigh more than the adult moth or butterfly.
One such insect is Manduca sexta, also known as the tobacco hornworm or hawkmoth. In this species, juveniles weigh almost five times as much as the adults. It has four main life stages: the egg, the juvenile or larva, the pupa, and the adult. Between these four life stages, the hornworm makes some astounding changes in size and form.
From tiny beginnings
Hornworm eggs start out at a tiny 1 millimeter in length—about the size of a pen tip. The eggs take a couple of days to hatch into larvae, and then the magic begins. Over a short three weeks, a hornworm will grow from about 0.01 grams to 12 grams. That is more than a 1000-fold increase in mass, about the same as if a housecat grew to the size of an elephant!
Hornworms grow more than 1000 times larger in mass,
the same as if a housecat grew to the size of an elephant!
Room to grow
During this period of speedy growth, the tobacco hornworm will shed its waxy skin, or cuticle, four times. This process is called molting and allows the larva to continue growing. Without molting, the cuticle would be too small, and the larva wouldn’t be able to grow—this would be like wearing shoes too small for you that stunt the growth of your feet.
The growth period between molts is called an instar. The larval stage consists of five instars (four molts). During the final instar, the larva prepares for metamorphosis, the process by which the tobacco hornworm caterpillar is transformed into an adult hawkmoth. Once the caterpillar reaches a large enough mass called the critical weight, the process that will trigger metamorphosis begins.
Metamorphosis
Manduca pupae Manduca pupae, photo by Art Woods
First, the caterpillar goes into a “wandering stage”, where it stops eating and searches for a site to transform or pupate. Pupation is the process of forming a hard brown shell, similar to a cocoon. This shell protects the tissues inside the pupa that are involved in the transformation from a caterpillar to a moth. During this process, the pupa will not be able to move. To stay safe from predators that might eat them, caterpillars will often wander into a hole in the ground to pupate.
Hornworm metamorphosis takes approximately three weeks, after which the moth emerges. During pupation, the 12 gram caterpillar is transformed into a 2 or 3 gram adult moth. The newly hatched adults mate during their nocturnal activity and the females deposit their eggs on the underside of tobacco plants. Then the cycle begins all over again.
Adult Manduca after metamorphosis, photo by Art Woods
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