Leucanella janeira (male), Brasil, courtesy of Chris Conlan.
Hi All,
I finished sleeving out my last batch of hatchlings yesterday, and also transferred approximately 100 polyphemus third instars from one 12 foot sleeve to five 12 foot sleeves. It has been quite warm and humid here, and I have been extremely busy with either setting out eggs or hatchlings. I am going to check on some Pachysphinx modesta later today as they will soon have to be moved as well.
I began harvesting polyphemus cocoons on August 7. These are from eggs deposited on June 18.
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Reminder that now is the time to order Arizona eggs if you have not already done so. Some have already been shipped and received as of July 29.
I am very interested in buying back cocoons of Rothschildia cincta, Eupackardia calleta, Antheraea oculea, Hyalophora columbia gloveri, etc.
Additional luna, polyphemus, imperialis eggs are still expected from some of the more southerly states.
Luna eggs are being shipped from Michigan, July 27, and more should be available over the next two weeks.
Polyphemus eggs are being shipped from Alabama, July 29.
Heraclides cresphontes (giant swallowtail) pupae are expected from Alabama on an ongoing basis for next little while.
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Reuben Judd writes, "By the way, I learned something the past few weeks that is useful for myself and other deep-south members; a larval host which is not on many/any of the lists on your site is Cinnamomum camphorum. It is very useful with at least S. cynthia (we don't have ailanthus in Florida, thank goodness, and so far they won't eat anything else but Liquidambar even though I would have expected them to eat one of the many Prunus sp. we have here. Camphor is a nasty invasive here, which means ample supply and no guilt about stripping an entire tree to feed larvae) and some of the other foreign origin moths, like A. mylitta. I expect many others would eat it as well, but at the minimum it is useful to note that these otherwise difficult-for-southerners species will happily accept it."
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Chris Conlan has sent a beautiful image of a Leucanella janeira male. It is first itme a live moth of this species has been depicted on WLSS.
Leucanella janeira (male), Brasil, courtesy of Chris Conlan.
Don Adams from southeastern Massachusetts writes (July 29, 2010), "For the first year in many here in W. Bridgewater, yesterday, three female promethea and one female poly, raised from spring 2010 eclosed parents, popped out of their cocoons, and last PM or very early this AM the poly called two beautiful wild males and is paired with one of these. The female will lay eggs this PM, and cats are easy to raise on Red or Black Oak."
I replied, "I think the very early spring warm weather has had an impact. Taylor Jones from Staten Island sent me an email
today noting that some of his first brood promethea have emerged from cocoons while others form the same batch have not. I
suspect that same will be true amongst wild stock where you are located, some will emerge now, but some from the same
brood wil probably overwinter. I will add your note to the Mass page and to newsletter.
"In order to get polyphemus through here I usually have to have eggs that have been deposited before July 10. Our evenings
start to cool off considerably usually after first week in August. One year I stil have poly larvae out in sleeves until
mid October after we had had several frosts. It will be interesting to see if you have time to get these eggs through where
you are located.
"I guess the moths are always trying to expand their window of opportunity. Occasionaly we see wild runts and I have often
wondered if they were from a very late brood where foodplant quality was greatly diminished."
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Taylor Jones from Staten Island writes, "Prometheas: One month ago, four of my fourteen promethea cocoons from an early spring brood eclosed. Two males; two females. One of the females attracted a wild mate, but I released the larvae as the drought and heat made it impossible to keep their wild cherry foliage fresh.
"None of the remaining promethea cocoons have eclosed. I know that promethea emergences can be staggered, and I've had seasons with just one brood, and other seasons with two broods. However, I would have thought that ALL the cocoons would have eclosed by now, given the early spring pairings and the intense heat this June and July.
"Question: Might the heat and drought have caused the remaining pupae to go into diapause, and that I might see the adults until next spring? Or might the hot, dry summer have killed these pupae? Obviously, time will tell.
"It has been so dry that clusters of wild cherry leaves are dying right on their branches!"
I replied, "Dirk Bayer from Alabama has been rearing (for quite a few years) Callosamia securifera
which is multi-brooded. Dirk has noted that some of the moths from the first brood in the spring emerge within a couple of
weeks of spinup while others do not emerge until the following spring.
"He has also observed the same to be true from subsequent broods, ie., some moths emerge in a couple of weeks while other
overwinter.
"In Central America where there can be intense heat in some dry areas, the moths have learned to diapause during the summer
months. I think in some of the dry areas of Costa Rica there is leaf drop in summer due to extreme heat.
"Your promethea cocoons may have died, but they may also be just going through a known bimodal emergence pattern for this
species or they may be going to overwinter as per Alabama securifera. Only time will tell.
"Please keep me posted on the unhatched promethea cocoons. If they are viable and emerge in spring, I would like to
document that."
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ian Surman writes, "I have had a very interesting experience with luna this year. Whilst rearing poly on English Elm, I decided to try luna on the same foodplant. To my surprise they have gone all the way through on it and are beginning to spin very good sized cocoons.
"As a precaution, during the third instar I sleeved some of the larvae on Walnut and when this ran low and they were in the final instar, I gave them Elm again and they re-took it without any fuss. I noticed that Elm wasn't on your list of known foodplants, so I thought I would mention this.
"Included are a pic. of final instar luna on Elm, final instar Samia cynthia parisiensis and one of my 5th instar mittrei larvae."
I will post Ian's images shortly and will add the elm to the foodplant list for luna.
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Facebook: Many people sent me birthday wishes on Facebook (thanks), and there have been several submissions by WLSS members to be friends on Facebook. Many young people are using this social medium on a regular basis.
My own personal preference is that we not be Facebook friends. It is just an extra login for me, and perusal of many posts that are not really of interest to me. I would prefer to do all Saturniidae, Sphingidae, Catocala, Arctiidae, butterfly communication more privately via regular email correspondence.
I started a Facebook account to see if more contacts with similar interests could be established, and I have made some new contacts that way, and there is probably a great deal of benefit for any business person to have a Facebook account, especially to reach a younger crowd.
Since we are already acquainted through WLSS membership, I prefer not to be listed as Facebook friends. I would love to hear from you about experiences with "moths of interest", but prefer to do so through regular email, which I check regularly.
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If you wish to send an enquiry or egg order, please be sure to include your complete shipping address in the email text of your message. Please also give me approximate dates as to when you would be ready to begin receiving eggs.
Please note: When you receive eggs from one of my US shipping subcontractors, the return address on the package will be that of my boyhood home in New Jersey. That address is not the one to which you should send payment.
I use that address so that if something does not get delivered for some reason, the post office will not try to send it to Canada.
Please always send payments to the name and address below:
Bill Oehlke
155 Peardon Road
Montague, PE. C0A 1R0
Canada
Quite a few people are using Paypal and that is fine, but please always get a quote first on all orders, as there is a usual paypal transaction fee of approximately 4% that I need to tack on to all orders that are to be paid via Paypal.
For all orders going to Canadian destinations, I have to include a 5% GST tax. There is no tax on the orders I have shipped within US, nor is there a tax for overseas orders.
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Visit Egg availability and prices 2010: Non diapausing livestock
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Alan Marson has sent me a series of beautiful images of eggs and all instars of Loepa oberthuri from China, reared on grape.
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Hybridizations: Robert Vuattoux has sent an image of a hand pairing of Hyalophora cecropia male with an Attacus atlas female. He has not sent images of larvae, but indicates the eggs have hatched and larvae accepted Ligustrum.
Robert has also sent an image of a hand pairing of an Opodiphthera helena male with an Opodiphthera eucalypti female. He has not sent images of larvae, but has sent images of an adult hybrid.
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Sphingidae Express
I am very much interested in receiving and displaying images of Sphingidae adults, eggs, larvae and pupae, even of the common species.
Please alsways send data to include date and location, at least to county level.
I wouold very much like to continue creation of County/Province level checklists for USA and Canada, and am also very interested in refining checklists for Central and South America.
Recent trip to Malay Falls provided females of Sphinx poecila and Lapara bombycoides. We also observed at lights several other species: Sphinx kalmiae, Pachysphinx modesta, Smerinthus cerisyi, Smerinthus jamaicensis, Darapsa choerilus, Sphinx jamaicensis. Congratulations to Derek Bridgehouse whio is travelling to many locales in Nova Scotia with his Honda generator and light set ups. He has finally met up with one Nova Scotia "prize", Sphinx chersis from Queen County.
Derek writes, July 13, 2010: "Bill – I was down to Queens Co (Mount Merritt Rd., Kempt, Queens Co., NS) overnite yesterday and got back this aft. I will send you GPS cords (N 44* 07.988; W 65*07.755).
Anyways, I took 9 species of Sphinx (C. undulosa, L. bombycoides, Sphinx chersis, S. kalmiae, P. modesta, Paonias excaecata, P. myops, Smerinthus cerisyi and S. jamaecensis), 3 species of Catocala and 2 species of Saturniid. All Hyalophora has now ceased as I have not seen any in 2 weeks. This place I went, however, does have columbia and cecropia.
"My main find and catch was Sphinx chersis (what a big critter, just not as robust as modesta). My 3 Catocala sp are badia coelebs, coccinata (what a beauty) and sordida.
"I used a banana-molsasses–rum mix and actually got to witness kalmiae hovering in front of trees like hummingbirds with proboscis out like a straw slurping up the banana-rum mix from tree trunk.
"I have never seen the sheets so full of moths esp Sphingids – awesome, I can only imagine during saturniid season."
I have recently posted Colombia, South America, checklist and have two contacts there who have indicated they will be sending me data and images. I have already received some from images from Rodrigo Torres Núñez. So far there have just been the more common Sphingidae, but I am also hoping for some of the more interesting Saturniidae as well as some surprise "Sphingidae" as some will be coming from more remote areas.
Carol Wolf of Cannon County, Tennessee, has provided me with images of live Sphinx franckii and Ceratomia hageni, and data for other species encountered in her area. It is first time a live S. franckii has been depicted on Sphingidae of Americas website.
Many Sphingidae sightings and images have arrived over last couple of weeks and it has been hard to keep up with posting of images and creation of new thumbnail checklists.
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Arctiidae Art
Kirby Wolfe indicates he will be sending me many electronic images of Arctiidae from Costa Rica. I will shortly begin construction of a worldwide Arctiidae site. Those who wish to contribute images of adults and/or larvae or any other stages are welcome to do so. All images that I use remain the property of respective photographers.
I am working on creating the text files and orgainizing names at this stage. It will probably be after Christmas that I do first posting.
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Catocala Capers
Evan Rand has sent additional sighting reports for Arizona. As soon as specimens come off the boards for id confirmations, the maps wil be updated.
I am starting to get Catocala images and data from several locations.
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