For the past few days, my fuzzy caterpillar was sitting motionless, in preparation to shed. I had been checking it, usually mornings and evenings. Tonight, I saw it had just shed.


Looking at it, the fuzz looks wet. And since I didn't see the process, I wonder: Did the old skin come off, revealing the new hair wet and matted underneath, as if the exoskeleton were a fuzzy bathing cap? Or did each hair have its own "skin". When mantids shed, everything, even the antennas, shed.

The old skin.