Hi All,
Happy Fathers' Day (June 16). I began taking cocoons out of cold storage when I saw the first cabbage white of the year, Thursday, May 9, 2013. That usually happens around May 10, very close to Mothers's day here on PEI. I will stagger eclosions by taking out just a couple of cocoons every other day.
I will continue to take out more cocoons every other day or third or fourth day so that when I get pairings, the resultant larvae will not all be in heavy feeding mode at the same time, and the more staggered eclosions allow for problems with inclement weather.
On May 9 I took out a single heavy cecropia cocoon and a single large polyphemus cocoon, hoping for a female in each case to emerge in early June.
On May 11 I took out another polyphemus, two cecropia, two luna and all C. p. and A. i..
On May 14 I took out two polyphemus, two cecropia, three luna, one columbia, two modesta, one virginiensis and five H.e..
On May 17 I took out two luna, one polyphemus and one cecropia.
On May 22 I took out remaining cocoons, five luna, two polyphemus and one cecropia.
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Male H.e. eclosed on June 8; female H.e. eclosed on June 9; they paired on June 9. Another male H.e. eclosed on June 10. A female Anisota virginiensis eclosed in morning of June 11. I was outside doing some yardwork and had cocoons and pupae in a screened cage, covered by remay with a solid board on top. At 1:15pm, just after lunch, I noticed what seemed like a very large male Anisota virginiensis flying around the cage.
His flight was more typical of a hovering Sphinx, and most movement, up, down or sideways, was in a straight line.
His bright orange body was almost completely vertical, and his small wings, with large hyaline patches, were scarcely visible.
I removed the covering board and remay sleeve in hopes that he might fly in through the 4 inch x 4 inch rectangular opening in the top of the cage. The rustling of the cage disturbed him and he darted off. I stood and waited, hopeful of a return.
A few minutes later he was back again, and gradually approached the female in a lower side corner of the cage. I was concerned that the mesh might be too small for a proper pairing so I caught the male carefully with my hands and introduced him to the cage.
At first he showed no interest in the female, flew around in a frenzy and finally landed in a far upper corner in the cage. I felt that the disturbance of capturing him against the cage and inserting him into the cage might have caused the female to stop calling. I waited.
In a few minutes he took flight again and quickly found the female, and the two had no trouble pairing. They remained paired until around 8:00 pm that evening when I artificially separated them so I could put the female in a sandwich sized paper bag in hopes of getting eggs.
She has deposited a goodly number of eggs as of 11:00 am, June 12.
I left the male in the emergence cage as he separated from the female while I tried to ove both of them in copula to egg laying bag.
The next day another female virginiensis emerged in the cage and I found the same wild male in copula with her.
On June 6, I captured two female Hyalophora columbia columbia, one in Elliotvale and one at Access PEI building in Montague.
Most nights since then have been cool and/or wet, but I have taken Smerinthus jamaicensis, Lapara bombycides, Pachysphinx modesta and Dryocampa rubicunda males in Montague; I have taken Sphinhx poecila, Pachysphinx modesta, Sphinx kalmiae and many Dryocampa rubicunda males in Elliotvale, June 6-11.
On June 11, I took a female rosy maple at lights in Elliotvale. Also present at lights in Elliotvale were males of cecropia, polyphemus, rubicunda, and males of poecila, bombycoides, modesta, cerisyi and choerilus. At lights in Montague were male rubicunda and a male modesta. One of the poecila was a female.
A female polyphemus that emerged on June 11 was not successful in calling in a male on the 11th. I hope she will be successful, and we will not have heavy rain on June 12. The female paired on June 13.
Another female H.e. eclosed June 14, but did not pair with male from June 10.
A male luna eclosed June 14 and a second male luna eclosed June 15. Hopefully females will soon follow.
I toook another female rubicunda June 14 in Elliotvale.
Two female polyphemus eclosed June 15 on a sunny warm afternoon. They did not pair on 15th. It rained on 16th, and one got eaten by birds on morning of 17th. I took a chance leaving cage with one female out, hoping rain might stop after I retired. When I checked at 7:15 am the female I left out was gone. The other caged female polyphemus is in another cage in my car, and might still pair tonight although more rain is in the forecast. I obtained a pairing for this female, and a female poly that emerged on June 17, paired same night.
A female Pachysphinx modesta emerged on June 16 and mated with a wild captured and inserted male, June 17; third and fourth male luna eclosed on same date.
A female C. p. eclosed June 17, but no males have eclosed as of June 19, so no pairing as yet.
I took another female rubicunda at lights in Elliotvale. Many modesta males were at lights, and we also took poecila, jamaicensis, myops and cerisyi in smaller numbers.
A wild female modesta was taken at lights in Elliotvale, June 18.
I took a wild female cecropia at lights June 18 and obtained pairing of caged cecropia on same night. I took several wild male cecropia at various lights in Montague on June 17-19. I took two male polyphemus at lights June 18-19. A male luna flew in to light on roof top 11:45pm, June 19.
I am looking forward to my trip to Malay Falls, Nova Scotia, June 21-22.
Female luna emerged June 22 and paired that evening. Same for Antheraea polyphemus. Three cecropia emerged June 23, one luna, one female polyphemus; only polyphemus has paired thus far. Female luna and female polyphemus emerged June 24; only the polyphemus paired. Several female C. p. emerged June 22-24. First male A.i. emerged June 25.
Another polyphemus paired on June 25.
Two female A.i. emerged June 26, one paired on 28th.
Fresh female and male C.p. paired on June 30.
A female A.i. emerged July 4. Another female A.i. emerged July 5, and male emerged July 5. I did not witness any pairings.
C.p. eggs began hatching July 13, 13 days after deposition.
A.i. eggs appear to be ready to hatch July 15, 17 days after deposition.
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As of June 16 the following spring brood (March-April eggs) Saturniidae cocoons are available (Texas stock): Antheraea polyphemus @ 5.50; Eupackardia calleta and Hyalophora cecropia @ 6.00. Polyphemus anticipated to emerge in June-July 2013; calleta fall of 2013; cecropia spring of 2014. Available in USA only.
One shipping and handling fee of $9.00 whether you order one item or twenty items, etc.. Send email with complete shipping address, species and quantities desired and preferred payment method before sending money. Price quote will be provided.
Send email to oehlkew@islandtelecom.com if interested. These cocoons from Texas will be shipped only to US destinations.
As of June 25 luna and polyphemus cocoons are available from Alabama.
Battus philenor, the Pipevine Swallowtail, pupae (non-diapausing, to emerge within 1-3 weeks) arenow available (July 7-August) at $5.50/pupa and $8.00 Express post shipping. With the extreme heat we have been having these should probably only be shipped within eastern United States.
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Now is the time to order and pay for eggs of the various species expected to be available this spring/summer.
All of the following are likely from Arizona in late July to early August: Automeris pamina, Automeris iris and maybe Automeris patagoniensis;
Antheraea oculea and Hyalophora gloveri;
Eacles oslari and Citheronia Splendens sinaloensis;
Anisota oslari, Syssphinx hubbardi, and Syssphinx montana (these hatch really fast though);
Maybe Rothschildia cincta and Eupackardia calleta.
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Here is 2013 Egg Price List with anticipated species and ordering instructions.
Please always send complete shipping address, preferred payment method, species and quantities desired, and some idea as to when you would like eggs shipped when requesting eggs.
I am now requiring that all orders be paid for in advance. This requirement does not indicate that I do not trust you. It is more a case of I do not trust myself to take the time to go back over records to see who has paid and who has not paid after eggs have already been shipped. I know it is easy to forget, and sometimes very honourable people forget. I do pay my shippers for the eggs I have shipped. That gets recorded when I send out notification to shippers.
I do not cash checks for eggs, until after eggs get shipped. That is a practice that I follow religiously as it makes sure that I have honoured my part of the transaction before I cash the checks.
There is usually a significant time delay, however, between time customers place orders and the date upon which I receive payments by check or international money orders, usually 8-10 days, sometimes longer. This requires extra time on my part with regard to record keeping.
Payment by paypal makes things much simpler for me. Payment by personal checks, sent well in advance of when you want eggs, results in my stapling of checks into my egg binder, recording requests on my spreadsheets, marked "pif" for paid in full, and then dispatching egg shipments at appropriate times when my shippers indicate they have the eggs available.
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Richard Wasson has sent a series of very nice images of Calosaturnia mendocino larvae and cocoons. He had success rearing them on manzanita.
Calosaturnia mendocino fifth instar (green form) on manzanita,
June 6, 2013, courtesy of Richard Wasson.
Calosaturnia mendocino fifth instar (yellow form) on manzanita,
June 6, 2013, courtesy of Richard Wasson.
Calosaturnia mendocino cocoon on manzanita,
June 16, 2013, courtesy of Richard Wasson.
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Leroy Simon sends beautiful images of live male and female Hemileuca eglanterina from British Columbia, Canada.
Hemileuca eglanterina male, British Columbia,
courtesy of Leroy Simon.
Hemileuca eglanterina female, British Columbia,
courtesy of Leroy Simon.
For the first time on WLSS a live male D. brevifurca is displayed.
Dirphia brevifurca male, Wild Sumaco Lodge, Napo, Ecuador,
November 15, 2012, courtesy of Les Catchick, id by Bill Oehlke.
Dirphiopsis picturata female, 90mm, Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brazil,
September 1968, Cornell University Collection, courtesy of Ryan Saint Laurent,
slight digital repair by Bill Oehlke; frst time on WLSS.
Hidripa taglia male, 51mm, Guarani, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil,
Cornell University Collection, courtesy of Ryan Saint Laurent.
Hidripa taglia male, 59mm, Parana, Brazil,
Cornell University Collection, courtesy of Ryan Saint Laurent.
Molippa basinoides male, Minas Gerais, Brazil,
72mm, Cornell University Collection, courtesy of Ryan Saint Laurent.
Hispaniodirphia lemaireiana ?? male, 53mm, Pedernales, Dominican Republic,
August 22, 1983, 1130m, Cornell University Collection, courtesy of Ryan Saint Laurent.
Hispaniodirphia lemaireiana ?? male, 50mm, Pedernales, Dominican Republic,
August 22, 1983, 1130m, Cornell University Collection, courtesy of Ryan Saint Laurent.
"WS: top: 53 mm, bottom: 50 mm
"Locale: (for both) Dom. Republic: Pedernales Prov.; Sierra de Bagruco; las Abejas, ca. 12 km NW of Aceitillar. 1130m, in mesic broadleaf forest at "BL" type blacklight; 22 August 1983; leg. JD Weintraub/FA Harrington **
"Note, in the original description, this species is said to be found in pine forests, these are from a slightly different locale, in broadleaf forest, but same Province-- I also think " Sierra de Bagruco" is a misspelling of Sierra de Bahoruco."
I agree with Ryan that these specimens are much closer to H. lemaireiana than to H. plana, but I think there is a good chance they are an undescribed species/subspecies due to different habitat, lower elevation, and differences in overall appearance. (Bill Oehlke)
One of Ryan's submissions inspired me to create the following Kentroleuca table:
Very distinctive species
convex forewing outer margin, strong white striga parallel to fw inner margin
strongly convex fw pml & outer margin; vestigial or weak white striga parallel to fw inner margin
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Ryan Saint Laurent sent me the image below from the Cornell University Collection in June 2013. The specimen clearly has a convex outer margin and a strong white striga parallel to the forewing inner margin, placing it in the group with spitzi, griseoalbata and boliviensis.
I think it is most likely K. griseoalbata due to the off-white region in the hindwing basal median area, but it could also be something undescribed.
Kentroleuca griseoalbata?? male, 64mm, North Parana, Brazil,
Cornell University Collection, courtesy of Ryan Saint Laurent
Ryan Saint Laurent has sent an image (Eudyaria venata??) from the Cornell University Collection with a November collection date. The specimen is quite small (72mm wingspan) and might be a different, undescribed as yet (2013) species.
Eudyaria venata?? female, 72 mm (very small), Argentina, November 28,
Cornell University Collection, courtesy of Ryan Saint Laurent.
Pseudodirphia species???, female, 83mm, Manaus, Brazil,
Cornell Universtiy Collection, courtesy of Ryan Saint Laurent.
Jean Yves-Pascal has provided the floowing image with details about the Montreal Insect Show.
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David Moskowitz writes, "The Second Annual National Moth Week will be held globally from July 20-28, 2013. It is open to everyone , everywhere regardless of level of expertise. Consider participating and shining a much-needed light on moths. Information, registration and details can be found at nationalmothweek.org"
Kirby Wolfe writes, "Our Giant Silkmoths book is finally being delivered from Amazon.com in the U.S. In Europe it has been selling very well and is being translated into German. It is now no.2 of Insect & Spider books for Amazon Canada, and it hasn't even been released there yet. Here's the URL for the U.S.: http://www.amazon.com/The-Giant-Silkmoths-Mimicry-Camouflage/dp/1906506256/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332781819&sr=1-1
"I imagine many of your members would be interested in this book, which is large coffee table format with over 100 color photos of live saturniids, and is very reasonably priced. The reviews in Great Britain, where it has been available since early November, have been filled with superlatives."
I (Bill Oehlke) have read some commentary on the new book, and it has all been very good. Check it out!.
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Sphingidae Express
Frank Steiger confirms both Protoleuron herbini and Nyceryx maxwelli in Peru. I have updated those species files and the Peru checklist page.
Ezequiel Osvaldo Núñez Bustos of Argentina writes, June 17, 2013, "Eumorpha capronnieri and E. translineatus don´t fly in Argentina. They were recorded in Schreiber but this author recorded many species of another countries that not fly in Argentina."
I have removed those two species from the checklist.
Adhemarius tigrina tigrina??, Apa-Apa Private Reserve, Chulamani, Sud Yungas, Bolivia,
November 28, 2012, courtesy of Ezequiel Osvaldo Núñez Bustos.
The following image was sent to me by Claire Herzog for id purposes.
Unknown Sphingidae, fifth instar, Sacha Lodge area, Orellana, Ecuador,, or
Yasuni National Park near the Napo Wildlife Center, courtesy of Claire Herzog.
Claire granted permission and I forwarded the image to Ian and Jean.
Here is Jean Haxaire's reply, "OK, this larva is absolutely unknown to me. I have never seen anything even closed to that, except maybe Manduca manducoides.
Could it be the larva of Euryglottis albostigma, or another Sphinginae? Well the position of the anal horn is very strange, but I think it is a Sphingidae
anyway, and not a Notodontidae (they could have a horn, see Pheosia sp.)
"Well, waiting for Ian’s opinion.
"Jean
"A great larva anyway. What was the altitude?"
Ian Kitching replied,
"Dear Jean and Bill,
"Thanks for the images, but like Jean, I have no idea what this might be, though I agree it is probably not notodontid (though nothing is impossible).
I wondered about a Manduca but the lack of oblique stripes precludes most of them. The general shape is almost Acherontia but there is nothing in that
group it could be. Orellana is all low elevation Amazonian forest as far as I can tell, nothing much over 400m, so Euryglottis would seem to be out of the
question. The only total other total unknowns are Baniwa, Protaleuron and Phanoxyla, but this is not what I would expect them to look like.
Sorry, I'm at a total loss here.
"Cheers,
"Ian"
Unknown Sphingidae, fifth instar, Sacha Lodge area, Orellana, Ecuador, or
Yasuni National Park near the Napo Wildlife Center, courtesy of Claire Herzog.
Filed under Research, Sciences on Wednesday, July 3, 2013.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — For years, pilots flying into combat have jammed enemy radar to get the drop on their opponents. It turns out that moths can do it, too.
A new study co-authored by a University of Florida researcher shows hawkmoths use sonic pulses from their genitals to respond to bats producing the high-frequency sounds, possibly as a self-defense mechanism to jam the echolocation ability of their predators.
Echolocation research may be used to better understand or improve ultrasound as a vital tool in medicine, used for observing prenatal development, measuring blood flow and diagnosing tumors, among other things. The study appears online today in the journal Biology Letters.
Study co-author Akito Kawahara, assistant curator of Lepidoptera at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus, said ultrasound has only been demonstrated in one other moth group.
“This is just the first step toward understanding a really interesting system,” Kawahara said. “Echolocation research has been focused on porpoises, whales and dolphins. We know some insects produce the sounds, but this discovery in an unrelated animal making ultrasound, potentially to jam the echolocation of bats, is exciting.”
Hawkmoths are major pollinators and some are agricultural pests. Researchers use the insects as model organisms for genetic research due to their large size.
Previous research shows tiger moths use ultrasound as a defense mechanism. While they produce the sound using tymbals, a vibrating membrane located on the thorax, hawkmoths use a system located in the genitals. Scientists found at least three hawkmoth species produce ultrasonic sound, including females. Researchers believe hawkmoths may produce the sound as a physical defense, to warn others or to jam the bats’ echolocation, which confuses the predators so they may not identify an object or interpret where it is located, Kawahara said.
The study was conducted in Malaysia, which has the highest diversity of hawkmoths worldwide, and funded by a National Science Foundation grant of about $500,000. Kawahara also conducted research in the jungles of Borneo and the lower Amazon.
“So much work has been focused on animals that are active during the day, but there are a lot of really interesting things happening at night, and we just don’t know a lot about what is actually going on — because we can’t hear or see it,” Kawahara said. “The fascinating part is that there are a lot of new discoveries to be made. It’s a totally unknown, unexplored system.”
Kawahara’s team from the Florida Museum’s McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity used high-energy lamps to capture the hawkmoths in the jungle. Study co-author Jesse Barber’s team from Boise State University played pre-recorded bat sounds to the insects, and all researchers studied their behavior. With the insects tethered inside an enclosed sound rig containing an ultrasonic microphone and speaker connected to two laptop computers, researchers recorded the sounds the hawkmoths made in response to being touched and hearing the echolocation sounds. The responsive species include Cechenena lineosa, Theretra boisduvalii and Theretra nessus.
“As a museum, we are creating a library of life,” Kawahara said. “Museum specimens are usually preserved immediately, but we are trying to understand the behavior of these organisms so that we have a record of their behavior along with the specimen and DNA. This is why there are so many interesting things we’re starting to discover.”
Hawkmoths are among the fastest and most proficient flying insects, and more than 1,400 species occur worldwide. Their long proboscis, or mouthpart, makes them important pollinators, since many plants may only be pollinated by hawkmoths.
Study collaborators plan to continue researching the use of ultrasound in hawkmoths, focusing on the evolution of the insects to see if other hawkmoth species use this system, Kawahara said.
“We think hawkmoths are a primary food source for bats because none appear to be chemically defended, which is why they have evolved anti-bat ultrasound strategies,” Kawahara said. “Hawkmoths have evolved different ways of avoiding bats — I can’t even explain how amazing the system is, it is just fascinating.”
Many thanks also to Doug Galasko who sends the following beautiful image of Hemaris senta.
Hemaris thetis, Cleveland National Forest, Riverside County, California,
July 5, 2013, 2000ft, courtesy of Douglas Galasko, via What's That Bug? (Daniel Marlos).
Catocala Capers
Catocala piatrix dionyza, Yuba City, Sutter County, California,
June 14, 2013, courtesy of Joel Garcia and family.
Larry Gall writes, "Hi folks, now that the adult Catocala season is in full swing, I'm hoping some or all of you can offer a bit of collecting assistance. Before making that request, I wanted to also let you know (a number of you already know) that I asked Bob Borth and Hugo Kons to join me/Dave this spring as authors on the MONA Fascicle. We are working on an end-game plan, which will incorporate a lot of new information that Hugo and Bob have been generating, with submission of a manuscript in November 2014, aiming for a projected late 2015 publication date.
"Summer 2013 collecting -- this summer I would like to receive
(1) as many specimens of male Catocala neogama as you wish to collect, from anywhere, and
(2) as many batches of eggs from as many female Catocala neogama as you care to put up and babysit for egg laying, from anywhere.
The reason is that two species appear to be going under the name Catocala neogama throughout most of its geographic range, notably east of the Great
Plains where we have all largely taken Catocala neogama for granted as a single entity. We'd like to confirm the likelihood of two species from
rearings from known females next spring, and also want to redo the data that will be used to generate these species' MONA distribution maps based on male
records (the males are easier to separate).
"Also, the same request holds for specimens/eggs from Catocala praeclara and Catocala alabamae from anywhere north of the Gulf Coast, so that we can nail down the respective distributions of these with better precision. Specimens of any sex are fine.
"The specimens sent can be in any state of preparation, pinned or not, although field pinned specimens may be the fastest to work with at this end. I'm happy to provide hints on obtaining eggs, etc., and assist anyone with shipping expenses. As always, I am also happy to determine any/all Catocala you might wish to have determined. Please feel free to forward this email to any/all of your collecting friends, and happy hunting!"
Lawrence F. Gall, Ph.D.
Head, Computer Systems Office
Informatics Manager, Entomology
Executive Editor, Peabody Publications
Lepidoptera Section Editor, Zootaxa
Peabody Museum of Natural History
P.O. Box 208118, Yale University
New Haven, CT 06520-8118 USA
http://www.peabody.yale.edu
email: lawrence.gall@yale.edu
phone: 1-203-432-9892
FAX: 1-203-432-9816
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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 $1.10 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, 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. (this spring) and is certified to teach).
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 $1.10 postage. 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 material on WLSS, and I try to accomodate when appropriate or within my ability to do so.
