Hubert Duprat collects wild caddisfly larvae and provides them with gemstones and gold to create beautiful pupae cases.
Caddisflies are an Order of winged insects, closely related to butterflies, that develop in streams as larvae and emerge onto dry land as adults. Like butterflies, caddisflies create capsules in which the larvae pupate and become adults. Unlike butterflies, however, they do this underwater, and use whatever materials are available nearby to create their chrysalis (7).
Duprat collects caddisfly larvae from rivers and keeps them in aquariums. The insects are then given flakes of gold, pearls, opals, and other gems. The caddisfly larvae incorporate these highly valued materials into their pupa cases, creating delicate, unique and beautiful structures (7).
These resulting works can be thought of as a collaboration between Duprat and the caddisflies. There are many instances of insect and mammalian mutualism, but this may be the first time that a human and an invertebrate worked together to produce art.
Duprat collects caddisfly larvae from rivers and keeps them in aquariums. The insects are then given flakes of gold, pearls, opals, and other gems. The caddisfly larvae incorporate these highly valued materials into their pupa cases, creating delicate, unique and beautiful structures (7).
These resulting works can be thought of as a collaboration between Duprat and the caddisflies. There are many instances of insect and mammalian mutualism, but this may be the first time that a human and an invertebrate worked together to produce art.
Duprat follows a careful process to ensure that his caddisflies are kept in good health and able to produce their cases. The larvae are collected in the early spring and kept in cooled water with an artificially lowered oxygen concentration. This mimics the natural conditions of a stream in winter. As caddisflies use environmental cues such as water oxygen content or temperature to coordinate life history events such as pupating, a stable “winter” environment prolongs the period in which the larvae will build their cases (3). Duprat gently removes the natural cases his caddisflies have brought with them from their native streams, and introduces them to an environment filled with small gold bangles. Once the larvae have built a sturdy case base out of the bangles they are offered pieces of lapis lazuli, coral, sapphires, diamonds, opals and other precious stones (5).