Lucas Bustamante / Brush footed butterfly (Lycorea sp.) caterpillar with parasitic wasp cocoons on silk threads, Yasuni National Park, Orellana, Ecuador.

Alex Hyde / Apollo silkmoth (Ceranchia apollina) close up of cocoon showing silk fibres, originating from Madagascar. Captive.

Alex Hyde / Cricula silkmoth (Cricula trifenestrata) close up of cocoon showing silk fibres originating from Southeast Asia. Captive.

Alex Hyde / African moon moth (Argema mimosae) digital composite sequence, showing wings expanding after emerging from cocoon, photographed against a white background, orginating from Africa. Captive.

Alex Hyde / Silk moth (Saturniidae) cocoon, used in textile production, photographed on a white background. Maroantsetra, Northeast Madagascar.

Nick Garbutt / Madagascar moon / comet moth {Argema mittrei} captive male recently emerged from cocoon.

Jim Brandenburg / Monarch (Danaus plexippus) butterfly emerging from cocoon, Minnesota

Nick Upton / Silken cocoon of Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet moth (Zygaena lonicerae) attached to grass stem, chalk grassland meadow, Wiltshire, UK, May.

Nick Upton / Basket cocoon parasitoid (Meteorus sp.) cocoon hanging from a grass stem in boggy heathland, Studland, Dorset, UK, July.

Paul Bertner / Braconid Wasp (Braconidae) cocoons attached to parasitized caterpillar, Udzungwa Mountains National Park, Tanzania

Paul Bertner / Parasitic wasp cocoon, Yasuni National Park, Ecuador

Paul Bertner / Moth larva in cocoon, Kerinci Seblat National Park, Sumatra, Indonesia