Week 5

The pupae were still in their cocoons during this part of the process.  They had not emerged but we did take them out of their tubes and put them on a piece of paper with our names on it.  During this process, we could see the worms moving and rolling across the paper.  We concluded that they would soon emerge as moths because they were moving so much.

Week 6

During the final week of the project, we discovered that our hornworms had evolved from their pupae stage and came out of their cocoons.  The adult Sphinx Moth was the result of the tobacco hornworm project.  Below, we have a video describing the basics of the moth and what its basic instincts are.

Week 4

On Tuesday didn't remove our hornworm whatsoever. However, on Thursday we removed him from the tube and measured him. He was 4 cm and moved slightly, he had entered his pupae stage and was a dark brown color. Also, his outer covering was somewhat crusty but still smooth. He would form in the dirt if he was in nature at this point but now in our lab he has formed in mulch.

This video shows our hornworm that is about to transform into its pupae stage. It is currently in a deep sleep, or hibernation, and will soon form its cocoon, which it will stay in until it develops into a moth.

Week 3

Brüno has been placed into the tube with mulch and has tried to burrow into it. On Tuesday when we removed him from the tube and he had a black line on his back indicating he was preparing to enter the pupae stage. We wrapped the tube in newspaper so it was dark in the tube and he could begin his pupae stage. When we removed him from the tube on Thursday, he had gotten thicker and his legs had almost disappeared. He had not gained any length and was still approximately 5 cm long. Brüno did not thrash back and forth as he had done before when removed from the tube, instead he barely moved at all.

Written by Dan, Darren and Sam watching.

Week 2

At the beginning of week two our group cleaned out the feces from the worm's tube. Afterwards we noticed that our hornworm had molted because we saw a piece of its old skin in the tube. Then we measured the worm and it was approximately 5 cm in length. There were also a few more characteristics that made the worm stand out this week too. Brüno was much larger this week than he was the previous week and his pigmentation was beginning to show. His stripes were very distinct along his sides and he also had several dots all over his back that lined up with the stripes. Finally, he was a turquoise color, instead of a natural green color, because we have been feeding him a wheat product instead of plants.

Written by: Darren; Dan and Sam watching

Week 1

This week our group received a tobacco hornworm for our project. We decided to name it Brüno because we thought it was a cool name. When we first received the hornworm it was only 2.4 cm long and did not exhibit much pigmentation. The most notable trait of the worm we noticed was the horn located near its anus. After examining our hornworm we put our larva in a tube with its food. Finally, we placed our hornworm under a light to keep it warm for growth.
Written by Darren; Dan and Sam watching.