Larvae took 4 days for first moult?

[Fernando]

Happy new year to everyone!

Well, my question is quite simple. My Eupackardia calleta larvae were born on december 28th, and on january 1st they already started to moult into their 2nd instar. That's 4 days, and I remember that the first generation of caterpillars took a lot more of time (more than a week).

I know that heat accelerates the process, but here in my room it hasn't been that hot (say, a maximum of 25-26 ºC or 77-79 ºF).

Could the fact that they were inbred have something to do with this? Thanks in advance!

[Fernando]

¿No one?

[scojoey]

Fernando,

I've raised a good number of saturniidae in my time and it's come to my experience that the first in-star is usually the quickest. I once had a cecropia who completed his first molt in three days.

As your little guy gets bigger his in-stars will become longer with the fifth and final in-star lasting about a week and a half to two weeks.

As far as inbreeding goes, genetic mutations and such usually do not occur within the first generation. It is in repeating this process repeatedly that you could have problems.

I hope this helps out! Have a great new year. ;D

-Joey

[obewan]

I have had calletta also...but in september! They always took about a week per instar...quite the bite when you get frostat the end of September!
obe

[Fernando]

@joey: thanks for your very useful answer. Oddly, the first time I reared E. calleta, the third instar turned out to be the shortest (~5 days). On the other hand, when I reared Polythysana cinerascens, the first instar turned out to be the longest, as they took about 35 days to moult into L2. Well, just different experiences I guess

By the way, what kind of genetic mutations could appear after many inbred generations?

obewan: yes, the first time I reared E. calleta they took about a week in their first instar, that's why I found this odd.