"Un"natural selection in A. polyphemus

[kcmatt]

Over the last few seasons, we have selectively bred a line of A. polyphemus for size and color ("cinnamon" (reddish brown)).  This includes initially weight, then wingspan and color selection of captive females, combined with size and color of wild males that requires about 1 in 10 selection from a robust wild population.  It has been interesting to see how first color shift moved gradually, but now results in a well-over 50% "cinnamon" brood in most recent generations-- probably 75% or better.  Some specimens have become increasingly red and vibrant.  A few of these (a generation behind, from this spring) can be seen in the animals on the white board in the photos, though the most recent generation with some of best examples and highest proportion are not yet mounted.  The specimens on cardboard are wild animals and some from older generations that reflect the norm in our area fairly well.

Curious about whether others have similar examples to share.  I know of one from a great breeder of H. cecropia but would be interested to hear/see more.

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[oehlkew]

Fun to try selective breeding to highlight certain features.
I once visited Bob Muller in Connecticut and he showed me a collection of melanic (all black) Anisota stigma that he reared successfully over several seasons before they died out, probably too much inbreeding.
Many years ago I had this melanic polyphemus hatch from among my normal broods. I was successful in getting a pairing and hoped to try to isolate the melanic gene through selective breeding. Unfortunately I lost all the larvae when a freak late summer hail and windstorm
tore holes in my sleeves and birds ate all the almost mature larvae.

[kcmatt]

Neat specimen, sorry to hear you lost the line. I recently saw an image of a striking melanistic animal like that, I'll see if I can re-find it. I have had those types of experiences with birds, racoons, weather... maddening.

I found with this trait that it took a couple of generations to really start shifting, then (over the last couple of generations) it has become much more drastic both in terms of percentage as well as the extremes of the desired trait. I don't have them pinned yet but some animals have become very dark deep red. Interesting to see a bit of genetics at work. Anxious to see what the next brood might bring.

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[kcmatt]

Here it is, a good amount of melanism in a male that was used in a forum post by someone theorizing that hieroglyphs represented polphemus moths:

paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/28198

[bluemoth]

Breeding for color or pattern is very exciting indeed. I work in this way with Buckeye butterflies. Thanks to some one who will be sending me eggs through the winter I should have some really nice mutations of the Buckeye butterfly to sell in spring.

Great work on those Poly's. Hope you have more luck getting interesting colors and patterns. Some times with my butterflies I get a change on one wing only when a new mutation occures in the pattern. Soon a new pattern mutation will occure on all wings afected by it after it first appers on the one wing. Most of the time a color change will happen on all the areas affected by it, not on just one wing. So these are a few things to keep in mind as you continue to breed your moths. Do not forget to add new gene stock to. All though this may affect a color or pattern a little bit you can select from the new stock to get your pattern and color back. Trust me you will not loose it you will get it back if new gene stock is itrodused. It takes a sharp eye for spotting fine detales in the wings and some nolegde of how mutations come about to be. I bread parakeets for a few years and learned about dominate and resesive triats that genes carry such as color and pattern. This is importent info and can be applyed to moth and butterfly breeding as well.

[kcmatt]

Interesting observations and experience. Thanks for sharing them. I definitely agree with the introduction of different gene stock, the best way to really combine different traits into something amazing. I sacrificed a bit of the red in one of my retained/bred wild males for a heavy pink border-- we'll see if that pans out into a nice combination of the two traits over time. Thanks again, good luck with those buckeyes. I have seen some of the neat buckeye mutations before, perhaps yours!

[nathanjboob]

Attachment DeletedAttachment DeletedMy sister had a some melanistic polyphemus emerge from her cocoons this summer. Her females were captive reared in 2011 and as far as I know paired with wild males in 2012. Most of the adults emerging in 2013 from those pairings were normal coloration. I reared out of two 'dark' pairings and I'm awaiting the results next summer. One female skipped diapause and emerged melanistic this past August.

I will post a photo taken of the first male to emerge and one of the hand pairings between dark siblings next to a 'normal' adult. The dates on the photos are wrong!

[kcmatt]

Neat looking animals, glad to hear you paired some of them. Would be interested to see what the broods look like in the spring, and perhaps exchange some ova or cocoons next year.