Hi All,
Now (June-September) is a very busy time for me as I will be sewing sleeves, getting pairings, collecting at lights, putting out and shipping eggs, answering questions, changing caterpillars, catching butterflies, doing some photography and preparing and tending to a new fruit and vegetable garden. I also ref soccer games and my new grandson is coming for a visit in July. Good job I'm retired.
I may not always get to posting images and sightings right away, but will try to keep up on a monthly basis. Many new images and useful information arrives on a regular basis, and that is great! Thankyou very much.
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On Friday, June 24, I travelled to Sheet Harbour, Nova Scotia, to get some pairings and collect wild females of various Sphingidae and Saturniidae. It was good to get away from the computer for a while and to see Derek Bridgehouse (friend and collecting partner) and to see the rugged Nova Scotia coast.
We got permission to put up my mercury vapour lights (homemade portable) at two different locations.
Friday night three of my caged female lunas mated after a rain and thunderstorm that lasted from 11:00pm until 1:30 am.
When we returned to the lights around 5:00 am, we saw a most amazing sight. Derek had placed two female Hyalophora columbia, in an inaccessible cage in the shadow behind an electric pole near one light that shone down a utility line cut. He wanted to collect some males to examine a good series. There were at least fifty males at the light and Derek has reported considerable variation in colour.
We also saw several Sphingidae and several male cecropia and male and female polyphemus.
On Saturday night, June 25, the same two lights brought in six female columbia. We must have hit the first wave emergence perfectly as there were no female columbia at lights the first night.
One of the local children, a young girl of six, was quite fascinated with the moths and had watched several of them eclose and inflate in a cage on her back porch on Saturday afternoon while Derek and I were out looking for beetles and butterflies.
She must have asked a hundred questions, really good ones, as I dismantled one light on Sunday morning.
As I headed for Pennfield, New Brunswick, after packing up the lights, I could see some moths (rearview mirror) freshly eclosed, climbing to hang on the screen sides of the emergence cage.
I visited in Quispamsis, New Brunswick, from 3:00-5:30 and another youngster (boy about 7-8) and a small crowd of adults watched four Hyalophora columbia females, one cecropia male and one female polyphemus eclose and inflate in that time period.
At the service station in Pennfield, I took two female lunas and a female columbia and saw one of the smallest wild male polyphemus that I have ever seen. He was smaller than a male io. Several male Sphingids were also present at the lights. To my surprise there was one small Catocala at one of the lights.
Around midnight I had my light packed and headed back to P.E.I. in hopes of getting columbia females paired around 5:00 am. Only one columbia paired the first morning, but I have had more columbia pairings since then. Luna and polyphemus pairings are now numberous (three luna and four polyphemus pairings on Monday, June 27), and I have my first female cecropia out June 29.
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Steve Kohll recently sent me very nice images of Loepa oberthuri adults and larvae (all five stages). Images are posted to individual species file.
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Stephan Naumann has sent me some slight corrections to Loepa genera list. Loepa formosensis is elevated to full species status. One image previously identified as Loepa anthera has been moved to Loepa kuangdongensis and spelling of that species name has been corrected.
One image previously identified as Loepa damartis has been moved to Loepa miranda taipeishanis Mell (1938) Gansu, China, file.
Loepa yunnana has been corrected from new species designation to Loepa yunnana Mell 1939.
Dr. Naumann has sent me images (posted) of both Loepa yunnana (a paralectotype specimen) and Loepa tibeta (paratype specimen).
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Alan Marson has sent Tony Pittaway images for Brahmaea certhia.
Alan has also sent B. christophi images and I hope to get around to them soon.
Alan also sent image of fourth instar Epiphora mythimnia that he is rearing on Ceanothus.
See Alan's monstrous Attacus caesar sixth instar larva in the species file.
Actias dubernardi, Cricula vietnama fifth instar have also been uploaded.
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Membership: To make the WLSS more secure, I will probably soon (not yet) be converting to a login/password system for access to WLSS. Members will be advised when this goes into effect so that login and passwords can be assigned/selected/recorded. There are currently over 400 members worldwide and over 100 of them have been given gift memberships by myself for their major contributions of images and information. I have no problem extending the complimentary memberships to advanced Saturnidae/Sphingidae enthusiasts who wish to help develop the site with images and information (identification help, foodplants, flight times, distribution data). If you know of anyone who might wish to contribute in this manner, please have them contact me so they can be included when the login/password goes into effect.
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Egg shipments have all gone out, over a thousand cecropia eggs and close to that number in luna and polyphemus. Many thanks to those who helped with egg shipments: Bev Powers, Bonnie Caruthers, Don Oehlke, Davied Shaw, David Albaugh, Stephanie Sellers, Tim Dyson.
I could not have handled all the requests for eggs by myself.
I pay people to ship eggs for me. I send them the species, quantities and addresses. If you are interested in shipping eggs, please send me an email. I am interested especially in a wider offering of species from western and southern North America. The Northeast is pretty well covered.
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Hostplant images wanted. I am looking for high quality electronic images of Saturniidae host plant foliage. I will begin to create files with foodplant images, linked from the scientific names of the host plants on the various species files.
This will also be done for the butterflies on Caterpillars Too!
John Campbell of Georgia has offered to help with this project so soon many of the host plant names will be linked to id/picture pages. John has indicated he has already acquired over 150 images for us.
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Sphingidae Express
Request for help:
Many of you do collecting or sampling at night. I am very interested in compiling county by county (U.S. and Canada) checklists for Sphingidae as per those at
http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/waLincolnsph.htm for Lincoln County, WA
http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/orYamhillsph.htm for Yamhill County, OR
http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/massEssexsph.htm for Essex County, MA
http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/scClarendonsph.htm for Clarendon County, SC
All of the Oregon Counties are now up and a couple from New York and Massachusetts.
Credit will be given for all sighting reports, dedications for all extensive reports.
Very nice picture of Manduca quinquemaculata in flight arrived July 10 from Ontario, courtesy of non-members Jo Richardson and Jody Buckner.
Tim Dyson has continued to send me great images and will be rearing a number of Sphingidae this summer. He has some cerisyi, modesta, drupiferarum (very small number, rarely offered), amyntor, started and will probably have excaecata, undulosa, kalmiae and bombycoides. He has found a "hot spot" not too far from home.
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At the request of some members I am posting a "BAD TRADERS" report. It can be accessed from the main page of the WLSS.
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Please check the Members' Wish list periodically and help when you can.
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Catocala Capers
I have posted Oregon and Washington checklists, soon to be linked from the Main Catocala Index.
Tim Dyson has sent me images (posted) of Catocala coelebs, concumbens and relicta larva, hatched from overwintered eggs which I sent to him last fall.
Tim recently sent images of Catocala crataegi.
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I have been steadily pecking away at checklists for states of Mexico, but it will probably be several months before I have all the Hemileucinae completed.
If you wish to help or want to watch development, the states' checklists can be accessed from the Mexico file.
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I'm making steady progress on Caterpillars Too!, a North American butterfly website featuring caterpillars as well as the adult butterflies. I will add as many hostplant images to this site as I can find. Pussytoes for Painted Ladies just uploaded.
This is also a private membership site. The one-time-life-time registration is $20.00 U.S. for the rest of 2005. January 2006 will see a registration fee increase.
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