Special liquid softens hard cocoon: puss moth

The mouth of puss moth larvae helps them escape their hard cocoon casing by exuding a softening liquid.

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Hard material for helmets, buildings, packaging. Dissolving fluid adds another dimension, so that a package or structure could have a way of self-dissolving over time.

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[Collapse all sections] Summary

"Many adecticous pupae are enclosed in cocoons of varying shape and consistency. That of the puss moth (Cerura vinula) is constructed on the boles of willow and sallow and is of extreme toughness, being fashioned from a mixture of labial silk and bark fragments which hardens into an oval whole, rough and bark-like on the outside but glossily smooth inside. Having no biting jaws, pupae of this type need other means to free themselves from their cocoons. The puss moth exudes a special liquid which softens the casing, allowing the moth to push its way out through a relatively small hole; others have special cocoon-rupturing structures on head or thorax which may be lost on emergence." (Wootton 1984:91)

About the inspiring organism

Cerura vinula
Cerura vinula Linnaeus 1758
[Pussmoth]

IUCN Red List Status: Unknown

Some organism data provided by: LepIndex: The Global Lepidoptera Names Index
Organism/taxonomy data provided by:
Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2008 Annual Checklist

Bioinspired products and application ideas

Application Ideas: Hard material for helmets, buildings, packaging. Dissolving fluid adds another dimension, so that a package or structure could have a way of self-dissolving over time.

Industrial Sector(s) interested in this strategy: Construction, manufacturing

References

Wootton, A. 1984. Insects of the World. Blandford. 224 p.

Special liquid softens hard cocoon: puss moth

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