Unusual Luna Eclosure

[Crake]

Hi all.

I've had some luna pupae for a few weeks and the first female finally eclosed—but there's something wrong with it. She appeared to be more sodden than usual and didn't expel any meconium as she emerged. I placed her in an enclosure where she settled in an upside-down resting position. After 3 hours, her wings are damp—but still shriveled—and her abdomen is dangling like a water balloon. She's still responsive but has not changed positions for quite a while. 

Here is a photo:

Any advice? Thanks in advance.

[exoticimports]

We will wait for tomorrow’s report.

I’ve had saturnidae wait several hours if they can’t find the right place to hang or are disturbed.

Chuck

[Crake]

Update:

She seems to be fine. It hasn't inflated its wings or excreted any meconium yet—but she's copulating with a male.

[kevinkk]

My only thought is perhaps she had some trouble exiting the cocoon, I've had moths get stuck in the silk threads around the escape
hatch(scientific term)
Sometimes I've helped them if I notice it soon enough and they'll be fine, but I've found that any resistance to emergence weakens
them, but if your moth is mating, that's certainly something. It would be interesting to see if she lays fertile ova that hatch.

[Crake]

The second female just emerged. Again, no meconium, but otherwise a normal eclosure.

[jwa121]

From among a group of, say, fifteen or twenty Saturniid caterpillars of a given species reared in captivity it will sometimes happen that one of the resultant moths will mysteriously fail to even begin expanding its wings. It certainly happens. And it happens with both inbred and wild stock. Whether, or how often, this happens in Nature is probably unknowable given that the evidence is hidden from us.