A larvae pupae question?

[goosey]

I have a tent of mint moth (Pyrausta auata) larvae in the garden. In the last week they have grown from less than 1cm to almost 2cm and made a new tent on a different part of the plant. So I imagine they will soon be ready to pupate.
My question is, will they drop to the ground and pupate there, like my sawfly larvae does (I think thats what they do?). If the answer is yes I will have to move the plant as it is above the mini ponds - I don't want them to drown!

[goosey]

Take back all I said about mint moth larvae , they are in fact Spindle Ermine larvae - Yponomeuta cagnagella (Spindle (Euonymus europaeus) being a big clue - duh ). Once they started to pupate I realised I had made a big mistake. The web they were in thickened and went quite fluffy as did the larvae themselves as they pupated.
Before they reached this stage they had moved up the pant eating blossom and foliage, leaving one nest for another until they reached the top. I was worried once they were very noticeable to the birds and pulled some ivy over them to hide them a bit. Then they split into 3 groups and moved into the ivy.

This was the original nest.

This is one of the smaller groups now, does anyone know how long I should expect them to stay like this?

BTW - I did move the plant away from the mini pond just incase.

[goosey]

Yesterday Spindle Ermine moths started to emerge from the pupae (all that care and worry over their well being paid off ). Four emerged, with about 14 more to go.



I don't think my spindle will survive more larvae, I will only have three fruit from it this year as it is, the last lot of larvae ate the other flowers and lots of leaves - actually what I have is quite a pathetic specimen .

[goosey]

The larvae - cocoons - moth sequence has been interesting to watch. most of the larvae all spun their cacoons at the same time, there was a seperate nest of 3 larvae which didn't turn until the next day. I find it odd though that 6 daysafter the first moths emerged, they are still emerging, usually 1-3 a day, with, as far as I can see 3 more to go?
Do you think this has to do with the weather (very warm but windy when they started but the last few days have been very wet and much windier) or, to lessen the chance of them all being eaten in one sitting as their wings dry out and are vulnerable and more obvious being white and unable to fly immediately?

[H Dogg]

Often temperature as well as individuals sex determines when they emerge so yes your weather may have had an influence but could also be somethin as simple as on lot being male and one lot being female, also possibly the larvae's development when they pupated a big healthy larva will pupate faster than one that struggled to feed as much.

[goosey]

An informative answer, thanks . They have all gone now, but I have some Double-striped pug larvae, so I will keep an eye on them. They are all over the place though, and are not so easy as the spindle ermine in a tent to observe.