The First Cecropia, Day 2
Posted by Mary in 
Upon waking this morning, I found Cedric hanging upside down from the top of the mesh basket. This proved to be a theme for the day. He fluttered around a little as I carefully lifted the lid to take some more pictures, but it wasn’t long before he climbed aboard my arm again and decided he really wanted to hang from the side of my hand. I’m not sure if he was attracted to my warmth or if my skin provided a more secure surface than the mesh basket. Regardless, he stayed there for over half an hour until I needed to do tasks that required both hands.
Hanging from the top edge of the basket.
A rear view of his beautiful wings.
As big as he looks for a moth, I marvel at how small a creature he is.
And there he stayed for a while.
Unlike my cartoon bugs, the majority of Cedric’s expressiveness comes from his wings and legs. He flares his wings and moves them in a particular way when he’s agitated. Before flying, he has to vibrate his wings rapidly to warm them up. He flails his front legs when something is too close to him, or when he’s trying to get a good grip, or if he otherwise seems distressed. I even saw him rub his front legs across his antennae several times each today – I’m not an expert, but this behavior appeared very similar to when I was once observing house centipedes and saw them clean their antennae. I suspect he was doing the same, as the action dislodged tiny bits of dust.
Getting close looks at Cedric has helped me better envision how my bug characters would be structured in a 3D space. His face and eye placement in particular is very helpful. The many pictures I’ve taken of his wings in various positions at different angles is also going to help a lot for my own moths and butterflies when I begin telling longer, more elaborate stories with them.
