FOR SALE, Polyphemus Moth cocoons

Antheraea polyphemus — Polyphemus Moth cocoons for sale.

I have weighed all of the cocoons to allow you to make an informed guess at the gender of the cocoons you purchase.  All of the cocoons have a viable weight.  The cocoons that are the lightest are likely to be male, while the heaviest are likely to be female.   I do not guarantee the gender for any of the cocoons.  I just provide the weight classes so that you can gamble on the gender.  I will not open cocoons and I will not make adjustments if you open the cocoons to determine the gender or if a moth turns out to not have the gender you expected.  

Pricing for Polyphemus Moth cocoons.  Prices for these cocoons increase as their relative weight increases, with category A being the lightest category that I offer for sale.  There are generally far more males than females in silkmoth populations, so the heavier cocoons, the ones most likely to be females, are more expensive. 

                     original total      available       price        likely gender _____________________________________________________________________

Category 0:          28                    0                n/a          smallest male  (I do not sell these)

Category A:         43                   40             $3.50        small male

Category B:         69                   62             $4.00        mid-size male

Category C:         53                   43             $5.00        large male, small female

Category D:         31                   11             $6.00       largest male, mid-size female

Category E:         13                   0             $7.00        large female 

Category F:          17                   2             $8.00          largest female (1 only with each purchase of 10 from categories ABC)

TOTALS:           254                 164

NOTE:  PLEASE ADD $5.00 USPS shipping for your entire order, including any other species I am offering in my other ads (my other ads will all have the same posting date and no photo).   Available numbers of cocoons shown above are on the date of posting of this ad and are subject to change as orders are filled.  The email address in this ad is my PayPal email address.  Payment by check or money order is also possible for my regular customers.  U.S.A. orders only, please.  Please do not send money until I have confirmed your order.  You can order cocoons from any combination of weight categories but these categories will not be kept separate within the shipment.

The parents of these pupae were multiple wild Iowa males attracted to multiple reared Iowa females; the progeny from each of these matings were not kept separate from each other.   The larvae were sleeve-reared on Burr Oak (Quercus macrocarpa).