August 15, 2007

Hi All,

Joe Garris of Sussex County, New Jersey, just sent me a beautiful image of a fresh female Callosamia angulifera that flew onto his light sheet on July 17. The female was calling while on the sheet. I suspect she eclosed very close to the light source. Joe has taken several male angulifera in the same area recently and will try to get this female paired.

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I have just updated, July 30, 2007, the Kirby Wolfe Saturniidae Site to include the following images recently sent to me by kirby Wolfe:

Gonimbrasia (Nudaurelia) krucki male, female and fifth instar, Nairobi, Kenya, reared on Malosma laurinus
Rothschildia hopfferi male and fifth instar, southern Brazil, reared on cherry
Graellsia isabellae female and larva, Spain, reared on pine.
Epiphora mythimnia, male, South Africa, reared on Ceanothus sp..

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Chris Conlan has sent a beautiful image of Gonimbrasia (Nudaurelia) krucki, Nairobi, Kenya. I have posted it to the photography section and have linked it from the Gonimbrasia (Nudaurelia) krucki page.

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Carlos Mielke has just sent images of two newly described species as well as three additional images.

1 - Male - Dirphia riograndensis C. Mielke & A. Moser, 2007 - Holotype (female unknown) - Locality: São Francisco de Paula, Rio Grande do Sul (RS)
2 - Male - Automeris jolantheae C. Mielke & G. Almeida, 2007 - Holotype (female unknown) - Locality: Maceió, Alagoas (AL)
3 - Female - Automeris castrensis Schaus, 1898 - description of the female. Locality: Tibagi, Paraná (PR)
4 - Female - Copaxa joinvillea Schaus, 1921 - description of the female. Locality: Joinville, Santa Catarina (SC)
5 - Male - Copaxa joinvillea Schaus, 1921 - Locality: uncertain.

Dr. Mielke has recently been approved to a PhD program where he has elected to study the Hepialidae (ghost moths/swift moths), and indicates he hopes to do a revision of the genus Cibyra Walker, 1856.

If any of you have a sincere interest in the Hepialidae and have some specimens/data, Dr. Mielke would be interested in communicating.

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David T. Rolfe has a new email address and his credits page has been updated. David has just sent me images and data for spread specimens of Pseudobunaea callista male and female. The female had not previously been depicted on WLSS.

David T. Rolfe has sent me nice images of spread Imbrasia orientalis male and female from Mwinilunga Township, Zambia, taken in January, wing spans 100mm and 110mm respectively.

David has also sent an aberrant Actias philippinaca.

David has also sent Lobobunaea falcatissima from Blantyre, Malawi, and Antheraea kageri (id by Ulrich Paukstadt and Frank Meister) from Sulawesi.

I just received a very nice image of a spread female Bunaeopsis jacksoni from Mbala, Zambia, courtesy of David, and was prompted to complete the Zambia map, which has now been posted. Now I know where Mwinilunga (northwestern) and Mbala (northeatern) are in Zambia.

David also sent images from Sichuan, China, which I believe are of Loepa kuangtungensis, but I will seek confirmations on those as well.

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Sebastian Brandner has sent a nice image of a spread females Nuduarelia amathusia from Elone, Cameroon, id confirmed by Thierry Bouyer. The female was not previously depicted on WLSS.

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Ulrich Paukstadt has just sent images of spread Antheraea celebensis and Antheraea minahassae females, recto and verso.

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Ulf Drechsel has sent me a cd from Paraguay with many outstanding images of live Saturniidae and Sphingidae, some not previously depicted. I will be seeking id help after Ihave gone through the files to see which ones I can do.

I have already added some species to the Paraguay Saturniidae checklist based on Ulf's images.

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Luna and polyphemus eggs are again available, July 21-23.

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Matt Curtis will be travelling/collecting in Arizona last week of July to early August and hopes to make available the Arizona species listed at http://www.insectcompany.com/silkmoth/eggform2007Arizona.htm

Place your orders now by email if you have not already done so.

The E. imperialis pini, H. euryalus, H. kasloensis and S. walterorum listed on that page should not be included/will not be available/have already been sent.

All other species are expected.

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I have added great pictures of spread specimens of Syssphinx mexicana male, Syssphinx montana male and female, and Syssphinx quadrilineata male, to the Charles Bordelon collection.

More recently Adelowalkeria plateada and Adelowalkeria eugenia have been added.

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John Ciseski sent a larval image (fifth instar) of Automeris kopturae from Costa Rica.

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Martin Jagelka reports Epiphora bauhiniae in Senegal. I have added that species to the Senegal list.

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Uwe Kauz has had success with pairings (two) of Eacles imperialis anchicayensis. He sends a picture of a pair in copula, posted to anchicayensis file.

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Alan Marson has sent beautiful images of fourth and fifth instar Pseudobunaea irius larvae from Tanzania, reared on Quercus robur.

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Anatolij Kulak has sent beautiful images of an Archaeoattacus edwardsii larva and Automeris io male and female.

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Robert Vuattoux has sent an image of a hand pairing of Graellsia isabellae male with an Actias dubernardi female, and he also reports he has larvae feeding from a cross between Callosamia promethea and Samia canningi. Good luck to Robert.

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Dr. Ronald D. Cave has sent me a beautiful poster of many of the Saturniidae of Honduras.

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Montreal Insect Show 2007

October 20th-21 2007, from 9 am to 5 pm
College de Maisonneuve, 3800 Sherbrooke East, Montreal
(Located one corner from the Olympic Stadium and the Montreal Insectarium)

Contact Yves-Pascal Dion at info@insect-trade.com
www.insect-trade.com

Yves-Pascal Dion has just sent me a series of Bunaeopsis images from Burkina Faso. Many of the species he has sent are listed by Thierry Bouyer in his 1999 Catalogue of African Saturniidae as "incertae sedis" and Thierry has had a look at the specimens and feels they may all be variations of the same species. Much work needs to be done on the Saturniidae, especially Bunaeopsis from Burkina Faso. None-the-less I have posted images to Bunaeopsis dido, elisa, fenestricula and nigericola files which I will add to the Bunaeopsis genus list as "incertae sedis."

Yves-Pascal also sends images of male and female Lobobunaea phaeax which Thierry equates with Lobobunaea christyi resnoctuae. I will shortly update the Lobobunaea genus file to include all the synonyms listed by Thierry.

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Sphingidae Express

David Link has sent me very nice images of live Sphinx eremitus nectaring at milkweed at dusk from Door County, Wisconsin, July 17.

I have created a Door County, Wisconsin, pictoral thumbnail checklist featuring David's images.

Michael Van Buskirk has sent me great images of fourth and fifth instars of Proserpinus juanita from Park Hills, Missouri. Larvae were feeding on Guara biennis.

I have recently completed and posted larval thumbnail checklists for Richmond County, New York, and Burlington County, New Jersey.

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Arctiidae Art

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Catocala Capers

Bill Garthe is getting a good response to his bait in northeastern Illinois already, July 18.

Carroll Rudy has sent me data and images for Calumet County, Wisconsin.

I have created thumbnail checklists for Illinois and Wisconsin and am working on New York.

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Caterpillars Too!, a North American butterfly website:

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A new Coleoptera (Beetles) page is being created.

This page will be resricted to those members of WLSS who have an interest in Coleoptera (Beetles) and who are willing to have their email addresses posted there for correspondence, limited to the Coleoptera family.

This list will not be available through any search engines and will not be linked by me from any of my websites. Instead, those members who register (no charge) will be directed to an unlisted URL.

Members whose names appear on this list have agreed to use the contact information solely for the purpose of furthering their interests in Coleoptera.

Members have also agreed that they will neither post this list/page nor divulge its contents nor share its contents with others.

To have your name and email contact information posted on the Coleoptera page, send email to Bill Oehlke, indicating you agree to terms above.

N.B. This is note a Coleoptera site, just a listing of contact info for WLSS members with an interest in Coleoptera.

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I periodically receive images of Saturniidae that I am unable to id.

I usually seek help from Stefan Naumann and/or Ulrich Paukstadt for Russian, eastern Asian and southeast Asian species. Thierry Bouyer helps a great deal with African species as does Rolfe Oberprieler and Rodolphe Rougerie. For South and Central America I usually call upon Kirby Wolfe, Bernhard Wenczel, Thibaud Decaens, Eurides Furtado and/or Carlos Mielke.

Occasionally these gentlemen and a few others are also stumped. So that I do not lose track of the images, I am going to create a section called "Undetermined Saturniidae" where the images and all data I have received with them will be posted. Hopefully, over the years, all will eventually be identified.

David T. Rolfe recently sent animage of a Bunaeopsis species. Thierry indicates it is neither B. hersilia nor B. aurantiaca. Another image submitted by David has a mix of characters from Nudaurelia dione and Nudaurelia rhodina. I have placed that one on both the dione and rhodina pages.

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The July newsletter is a long one and has been archived on site. I send you this short edition of the August newsletter so you can take advantage of Arizona eggs sales (top of page). I still have many images submitted in June-July to add to the site. It will take a while to get caught up.

Luna and polyphemus eggs are also again available, July 21-24

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