Adults show strong sexual dimorphism.[6] Adult females lack wings and live throughout their life in the larval case.[7] Adult males have functional wings. This is due to that during final instar larvae, male show normal wing discs, whereas those of the female show rudimentary.[8][9] The protective is about 5 cm in length. The silk is composed entirely of Glycine-Alanine repeats and poly-Alanine stretches.[10]
In the male, wing discs proliferate rapidly in the eighth instar and continue proliferating. A conspicuous peripodial epithelium forms and the hemopoietic organs break down and disappear completely by the prepupal stage. Whereas in female, the wing discs remain as in the seventh instar, without proliferation of cells inside. Therefore, there is no peripodial epithelium formation and the hemopoietic organs are still attached to the wing discs. Finally the entire wing discs transform into a plain, thick epidermis in the prepupal period.[11][12]
Molecular basis
In 2018, the complete mitochondrial genome of the moth was sequenced using a nanopore sequencer as a single long read. It is the second report of a complete mitochondrial genome of psychid species.[13]
^Niitsu, S.; Lobbia, S.; Izumi, S.; Fujiwara, H. (2008). "Female-specific wing degeneration is triggered by ecdysteroid in cultures of wing discs from the bagworm moth, Eumeta variegata". Cell and Tissue Research. 333 (1): 169–73. doi:10.1007/s00441-008-0615-7. PMID18478269.
^Niitsu, S. (2003). "Postembryonic development of the wing imaginal discs in the female wingless bagworm moth Eumeta variegata". Journal of Morphology. 257 (2): 164–70. doi:10.1002/jmor.10116. PMID12833377.
