Cecropia Moth Cocoon

This appears to be the cocoon of a Cecropia Moth, the winter home that bridges its 2021 caterpillar life and its 2022 adult moth life. I believe this partly because of the raw size of of the cocoon; a large cocoon is necessary for a moth that could have a 7" wingspan. These guys are considered giant silk moths, and are North America's largest lepidopteran (moth/butterfly).

Cecropia is pronounced like SEE-cro-pee-uh. I don't know how the moth got its name, though the word cecropia apparently means Athenian, and derived Cecrops [1], the 1st king of Athens.

Unlike some lepidopterans that take in nutrients by drinking nectar or other fluids, Cecropia Moths don't consume anything as adults. And for this reason, their adult lives are short. They can supposedly last for up to 2 weeks before dying. With no nutritional needs their adult lives are about 2 things:

  1. Breeding.
  2. Avoiding predators long enough to breed.

January 14, 2022 at Duke Farms
Photo 176184377, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

[1] Cecrops was supposed to be human from the torso on up, but a serpent below. Perhaps that dual nature reminded lepidopterists of the way moths have 2 active life stages, a flying moth and a crawling caterpillar. Or maybe they wanted to give this large, distinctive-looking moth a royal name.

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