Bagworm Moth

For some time now, I have been taking pictures of Bagworm Moths whenever I was presented with an opportunity. This started long before a reliable internet service became available which enabled me to join Project Noah. In those days, I was taking pictures for my own little catalogue of our local biodiversity and when I saw a Bagworm, I would snap one or two shots, ostensibly for insertion into my catalogue. But it was done half-heartedly, in the knowledge that the photos would never make it onto my pages. I knew so little about these moths that it would have taken a great effort to create even a small entry in my catalogue and there were so many interesting organisms out there which were "easier' because of the availability of information. However, since I have started contributing to (and benefitting from) PN, this is all changing and I am even becoming quite interested in these "difficult" Bagworms. I have been searching through my old photos of Bagworms, looking for anything particularly interesting or small point that I may have missed, back in those "half-hearted" days and the specimen in this spotting has provided just that. I took only one photo of this Bagworm. The second picture is just an enlargement to show more detail. The point of interest for me is that this bagworm has affixed itself to the plant, which indicates that it is now pupating. The method of "fixing" appears to be a small pad of sticky silk which I have seen on many specimens, but this one appears to have something additional. If you look at the enlarged picture, you will see a robust looking silk tether. The end attached to the plant seems to have the same kind of sticky silk pad, the other end goes into the detritus which makes up the "bag" and how it is fixed cannot be seen. This reminds me of Papilionidae pupae which affix their posterior to the plant with a sticky silk pad and then add a silk tether which goes around their abdomen and also sticks onto the plant (like a car seat belt). I have not seen this "tether' on any other Bagworm pupae. So, I cannot yet be sure of its purpose, but there are a number of academic papers I can have a look at and I will add here anything that I find on this subject.