April, 2003
"Mothly Newsletter"

Hi All,

I have just completed "State by State" listings for all U.S. species. Any data that you send for any species can now easily be added for the benefit of all. Please send sighting/capture dates/times/locations. Lydia Wright has confirmed Hyalophora columbia columbia in upstate New York.

I am working on a cd of just U.S.A. species and expect to have a first release in the early fall.

I would greatly appreciate any assistance with images of the following species, as live insects or spread specimens:

Agapema anona dyari
Automeris io neomexicana
Coloradia doris
Coloradia davisi
Coloradia p. lindseyi
Hemileuca chinatiensis
Hemileuca clio
H. e. mohavensis
H. eglanterina annulata
H. e. shastaensis
Hemileuca griffini
H. grotei grotei
H. maia peigleri
Hemileuca oliviae
Hemileuca slosseri

There is also a great interest in Europe for eggs/cocoons of western and southwestern U.S. Saturniidae species. I am quite willing to post these for you in eggs available section. Lots of people are looking for Hyalophora euryalus, H. gloveri and the Saturnia (Calosaturnia) species from California. I think the Hemileuca and southwestern Automeris species would also be quite popular.

Jeff Ausmus, mothman15@hotmail.com
is looking for livestock of Hyalophora kasloensis.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

A new Useful Data Bases section has been created and is available from the main page.

I have created a "Far East" section, listing and depicting species from Japan, China, North and South Korea, etc. I think the checklists are reasonably accurate. Any corrections would be appreciated.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

My father, Don Oehlke, 34 McCann Mill Road, Pottersville, New Jersey 07979 has small numbers of Callosamia promethea cocoons at $3.50 U.S; Antheraea polyphemus at $4.00; Hyalophora cecropia again available at $5.00 and an assortment of Sphingidae pupae at $3.50: Amorpha juglandis, Ceratomia undulosa, Paonias myops. There is minimum order of $20.00 and there is one shipping and handling charge of $6.00 in U.S. Citheronia regalis are now sold out. You can confirm availability at 908-439-2462. He is also now taking email

gamster28@hotmail.com

He is also offering cocoons of hybrid Antheraea polyphemus x Antheraea oculea. He describes them as looking like Antheraea polyphemus (form) olivacea adults. See them at

http://www.insectcompany.com/silkmoth/thuffmanapo.htm

He has about fifty cocoons. price is $5.00/cocoon plus shipping and handling. Please confirm and reserve by email before sending any money.

*********SPECIAL NOTICES*********

Jacolene Meyer recently sent me an image of 3.5 week old Bunaea alcinoe larvae from Africa, available in photography section.

Jay Johnson (non-member) recently sent me an image of Hemileuca electra mojavensis which I have posted in photography section and in mojavensis file.

Bernhard Wenczel, a picture of the rare Automeris masti.

Thibaud Decaens, Automeris gabriellae.

Jeff Ausmus, Hyalophora euryalus pairing.

Ismael and Marie Lumawig, Actias philippinica philippinaca male.

Kathleen Hawkins has sent ina very humorous/interesting article on caterpillar CPR; posted in Fun and Members' articles sections.

Contributions by others are welcome. I am very grateful for all the sharing that goes on with members, and especially what comes here.

***************Coming for Christmas!***************

Christmas of 2003 is a long way off but I have set it as a goal for first release of cd of WLSS. I did a "cd burn" from my home backup files in early March and it turned out beautiful. Images and pages load up instantaneously!

I must respect the promises made to many photographers who have sent me high resolution images; I will only release those images at resolution of 72 as per display on internet site. It is going to take quite a while to resize the many images all into one directory file so that I can do a "burn". I expect the price of the cd will be $15.00 - $25.00 U.S. for members and will only be available to members.

********COUNTRY BY COUNTRY CHECKLISTS********

The Southeast Asia section is now linked from the main page; most country by country checklists are now active. The European and Eurasian checklists are also now active or shortly will be.

Far East section has been added.

I'm now working on South and Central American checklists.

********Eggs and Sleeves********

Now is the time to submit your egg and sleeve orders if you have not already done so. Eggs will be shipped on first-paid-first-served basis until supplies run out.

********************************

Membership access is at

http://www.insectcompany.com/silkmoth/kurthi.htm

No password or login is necessary.

Please remember to keep access information confidential as I wish to put new registration fees toward purchase of Lemaire's new book on the Hemileucinae. The book is expensive (around $350.00), but extremely well done according to all reports I have read. I am purchasing the book, as well as Kitching's Sphingidae of the World from Erich Bauer, a highly recommended book supplier from Germany.

************Saturniidae Books********

There is a new link on main page to Erich Bauer's site. I have just received my three volumes of Lemaire's Hemileucinae, 2002, which is a tremendous publication going far beyond the scope of the WLSS. Check out Erich's listings.

*************************************

I would also ask that you encourage other Saturniidae enthusiasts to visit the introduction to the WORLD'S LARGEST SATURNIIDAE SITE at http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/indexos.htm

The site will continue to grow and I believe there is nothing comparable to it on the internet.

Click on reload or restore if it doesn't load up first time.

Thanks again to Clive Pratt of the Insect Company for hosting the site. Clive offers dried specimens of any insects and has an extensive listing of Saturniidae.

********NEWSLETTERS:***********

The Mothly Newsletter (not a typo) will be sent out monthly via email.

If you do not wish to receive the newsletter, let me know and I will remove your name from the newsletter mailing list. Same applies to "Sphinx Express" for the fast-fliers' enthusiasts.

Membership continues to grow and I now archive all editions of the "Mothly Newsletter" on site. That may provide an interesting historical overview of the site's development and will allow new members to "catch up" on things they might have missed.

*********SPECIAL REQUESTS*********

Save your empty cocoons for Carol Neeves. She works with the silk and would like all the empties you can send her. Carol has just set me a write up with pictures to show what she does with the silk (now posted in Members' Articles section).

Neeves, Carol, 1609 Ponderosa Drive, Sioux Falls, South Dakota 57103

CANeeves@aol.com

Janet Hightower is also looking for empty cocoons. She is doing a project on making rattles out of cocoons, and promises us some images and an article after she makes some noisemakers.

Janet Hightower, 1319 Ahlrich Avenue, Encinitas, California 92024 janet@scripps.edu

Return to Mothly Newsletter Index

Goto Main Index