January 15 to February 14

Hi All,

I remain very busy with creation of an alternate WLSS site on a location that will not require a login or password. The site is still a private site and members are expected to keep access confidential.

I am also streamlining the opening page to make it more user friendly (easier to find things). The renaming and relinking of the thousands of files is taking longer than I anticipated, but I still hope to have the new location site fully operational by end of March 2015. It is taking me longer than I first expected and some family duties will take me away from the computer January 26-Februry 11.

I have also been busy with sales of remaining cocoons.

I will probably be away from the computer January 26 to February 11 so do not be alarmed if I do not respond to emails during that time period.

I also currently have an oversupply of cecropia and luna cocoons and some new Callosamia promethea cocoons as well as a good number of Antheraea polyphemus cocoons. Thus I am posting this notice, offering some nice discounts in a Christmas special on remaining and new inventory. From now until all inventory is sold the following prices will be in effect:

Saturniidae:
Actias luna $4.60/cocoon
Antheraea polyphemus $5.10/cocoon
Callosamia promethea $4.75/cocoon
Hyalophora cecropia $6.25/cocoon

The above items are only available in US as I am completely sold out in Canada until fall of 2015.

I will commit these items (short supply items) to those who respond first. Please specify species and quantities if you are interested.

Bill Oehlke

Shipping and handling on all orders within US will be $9.00 whether you order a single item or 100 items, etc.

If you wish to place an order, do not send payment yet, but please do send right away the following information in an email back to me:
1) Your complete shipping address
2) Species and quantities of each that you would like to receive
3) Your method of payment personal check (preferred) or paypal. With Paypal there is a paypal fee of 4% that would be added to your total price, and that can increase the price rather dramatically if you place a large order. I can also accept international postal money orders or bank international money orders in US funds, but please note they have to be international money orders.

Do not send any payment until I have confirmed your order. Hopefully I will be able to do that within a few days of receipt of your email to me, and I can let you know the total amount due at that time. On the Monday after receipt of payment your order wil be dispatched.

Bill Oehlke
Box 476
Montague, PE, C0A 1R0
Canada

Check with post office before you mail the payment to make sure you have correct postage. It might even be more than $1.15 by time you are ready to send it.

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Nudaurelia rubra male, Sakania, Democratic Republic of the Congo,
January 28, 2015, courtesy Nigel Voaden.

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Kelly Price has sent me quite a few nice images from Cameroon. I probably won't get to most of them until after I return from New Jersey in mid February, but I am pretty sure this interesting one is a a female Lobobunaea melanoneura, not previously depicted on WLSS.

Lobobunaea melanoneura (more probably acetes) female, 127mm, Cameroon,
courtesy of Kelly Price.

Congratulations to Robert Vuattoux on successful rearing of an unusual hubrid.

Hybrid of Epiphora bauhiniae male, Senegal, Africa, x Hyalophora euryalus female, California,
courtesy of Robert Vuattoux.

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Patrck Basquin continues to send me many beautiful images. Most recently he has sent me images of Maltagorea ornata and a series of images of Maltagorea auricolor and Maltagorea auricolor variable showing high degree of variability of these moths. For the first time larvae of M. auricolor variable are depicted on WLSS.

Maltagorea auricolor male (copyright protected), Lakato Forest, Moramanga, Madagascar,
1100m, courtesy of Patrick Basquin.

For the first time on WLSS a female Antherina comorana is depicted. This moth was recently elevated from a subspecies of suraka to full species status.

Antherina comorana female, Mayotte,
courtesy of Patrick Basquin.

Males from different islands appear different so there is either considerable variation within the species or there are two or more species/subspecies involved. Note the very straight forewing pm line and the much produced forewing apex of the male from Moheli compared to those features in the male from Grand Comore. The male from Anjouan at the top of the page has a different juncture of the forewing pm line to the costa than is found in either of the two specimens directly below.

Antherina comorana male, Grande Comore,
courtesy of Patrick Basquin.

Antherina comorana male, Moheli,
courtesy of Patrick Basquin.

For the first time on WLSS, Maltagorea vulpina tapiae is depicted.

Maltagorea vulpina tapiae male, Col des Tapia, Antsirabe, Madagascar,
courtesy of Patrick Basquin.

For the first time on WLSS, Maltagorea vulpina viettei is depicted.

Maltagorea vulpina viettei male, Massif de l'Itemo, Madagascar,
courtesy of Patrick Basquin.

Patrick has also sent a series of images of M. auricolor variabile, illustrating the great variability of both males and females of this species. I have posted the images to the variable file along with images of larvae, another first on WLSS.

Images have also been posted of nominate auricolor and of M. fusicolor. See the individual files for those images.

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Derek Bridgehouse, for as long as I have known him, has had a keen interest in Hyalophora species. He makes a great effort to examine all the specimens (Hyalophora columbia columbia, Hyalophora cecropia and natural hybrids of those two species) that come in to our lights or respond to calling Hyalophora females when we make our annual collecting trip to Malay Falls, Nova Scotia, in June. Below are two aberrant males that were taken from the afore-mentioned location.

Hyalophora cecropia aberration, Malay Falls, Halifax County, Nova Scotia,
June 28, 2008, courtesy of Derek Bridgehouse

Hyalophora cecropia aberration, Malay Falls, Halifax County, Nova Scotia,
June 27, 2010, courtesy of Derek Bridgehouse

As a youngster I was an avid tropical fish hobbyist. I was fascinated by some of the results that could be produced through selective breeding procedures and/or hormone enriched diets with guppies and other fish species. I have seen cecropia with very tiny forewing cell markings, with greatly enlarged white banding width, with greatly enlarged red banding width, and with greatly differing degrees of red suffusions in the basal median areas of the forewings. I have often wondered what one could do with Saturniidae by practicing selective breeding techniques, especially with species that had many broods each year.

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Sphingidae Express

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Catocala Capers

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Use your browser "Back" button to return to the previous page.

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Please note: I reside in Canada at the following address and payment for Saturniidae livestock (eggs, cocoons, pupae) and/or sleeves must be sent to me only at this address:

Bill Oehlke
Box 476
155 Peardon Road
Montague, Prince Edward Island, C0A 1R0
Canada

Postage from USA to Canada is $1.15 (2015 rate) so please use that amount on your envelope with your payment.

If you are in US and order cocoons or pupae from me this fall or winter, you will probably see a New Jersey return address on the shipping box. Do not send payment to the New Jersey address; send it to name and address above please.

This website has been created and is maintained by Bill Oehlke without government or institutional financial assistance. All expenses, ie., text reference support material, webspace rental from Bizland and 1&1, computer repairs/replacements, backups systems, software for image adjustments (Adobe Photoshop; L-View), ftp software, anti-virus protection, scanner, etc. are my own. The one-time-life-time membership fee that is charged at the time of the registration covers most of those expenses.

I very much appreciate all the many images that have been sent to me, or of which I have been granted permission to copy and post from other websites. All images on this site remain the property of respective photographers.

If you would like to contribute to the maintenace of this website by sending a contribution to

Bill Oehlke
Box 476
155 Peardon Road
Montague, Prince Edward Island, C0A1R0
Canada

your donation would be much appreciated and would be used for
1) paying for webspace rental;
2) paying for computer maintenance and software upgrades;
3) purchases of additional text reference material (journals and books) in an effort to stay current with new species;
4) helping to pay my daughter's tuition (She has now completed her B.A. (two years ago) and B. Ed. (spring 2013) and is certified to teach) and has been working full time as of September with contract until end of first semester in January.

I also hope to expand the North American Catocala site as well as the Sphingidae of the Americas site, to worldwide sites, and that will require additional funds for reference materials, etc. Both of those site are linked from your WLSS homepage.

If you are mailing a check from USA, please use $1.15 postage (2014 rate). Donations can also be made through Paypal via the button below.

Donations are not required to maintain your standing as a WLSS member, nor do they gain you any preferencial treatment with regard to livestock and/or supplies (sleeves), compared to other WLSS members. All WLSS members get first crack at my annual offerings and get an approximate discount of 10% as compared to non-members.

I do usually ask donors if they have any special requests for information on WLSS, and I try to accomodate when appropriate or within my ability to do so.