Hi All,
Happy Father's Day, June 21, to all fathers.
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All cocoons were taken out of cold storage the week of May 11-15. I will take the naked Sphingidae pupae out on May 20 (didn't get done til almost end of June) along with a couple of small Arctiidae cocoons.
I saw three Dryocampa rubicunda males at rooftop light June 6. I think there may be a partial second brood here this year. Female Dryocampa rubicunda taken at light on June 10; additional females taken June 13 and another on June 18.
Female luna eclosed June 11; male and female luna eclosed June 12; two male poly eclosed June 12. Multiple luna eclosions and pairings June 15-19, some poly eclosions and pairings and male columbia eclosions. No female cecropia or columbia have emerged as of June 18.
Five fresh polyphemus females paired the night of June 20, three lunas paired same night, and one columbia paired at 5:10 am on June 21. I took several additional female rubicunda at lights, June 20. First male cecropia emerged on June 21.
June 23 a large female columbia paired. I had multiple pairings of luna and polyphemus week of June 22-24 and one cecropia pairing. I went to Malay Falls, Nova Scotia, to collect with Derek Bridgehouse on Friday and Saturday, June 56-27. We set up 175 watt mercury vapour lights at two different locations. We took six or seven female luna and one of my caged females mated with a wild male. We took several female cecropia and two of my caged females paired. I brought home three additional cecropia females from my reared stock in the cocoon cage as well about half a dozen fresh males we collected at lights. Upon returning to Montague, PEI, on Sunday night, I set the males out on fir tree limbs about 8:30 pm. I set out the three unpaired cecropia females in individual mating cages and then watched the males fly in and pair between 9:10 and 9:30 pm. It was still bright enough outside to watch the entire process.
We also took two female columbia the second night in Nova Scotia and a female polyphemus. Dryocampa rubicunda was by far the most plentiful saturniidae at our lights and numerous females were taken. We also took one female Anisota virginiensis.
Among the Sphingidae we took females of Sphinx poecila, Sphinx kalmiae, Sphinx drupiferarum, Paonias excaecata and the very common Darapsa choerilus. I had also taken some Sphingidae pupae with me and we obtained pairings of a female Paonias excaecata and a female Darapsa choerilus by placing light captured males in with the caged females.
Lapara bombycoides was very common and we also encountered Ceratomia undulosa, Pachysphinx modesta, paonias myops, Smerinthus cerisyi and Hyles gallii. Derek also captured an Hemaris thysbe during the day while he was searching for dragon flies.
I am making this entry on Wednesday evening, July 1, and still have not caught up on my sleep. We stayed at the lights until 2:00 am each morning, retired for a short nap, and then set alarms for 4:00 so we could capture male columbia responding to lights and female cecropia we were using for "bait".
Around 5:30 am we went back to bed, and Derek was ready to hunt dragon flies at 10:00 am.
I was too wiped out to go with him the second morning, but I am ten years older than he is!
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Alabama Antheraea polyphemus cocoons now available to emerge in June-July. These are for sale at $4.50 US/cocoon plus $8.00 S & H. Actias luna cocoons are also available now (JUne 18) at $4.25, can be shipped with polyphemus. Both species are expected to eclose in two to three weeks.
Lunas and pollies started emerging June 29 so eggs will soon again become available.
Eacles imperialis pupae are available as of July 1 from Alabama. Most of these will emerge in July-August, but a percentage will overwinter. That has been Dirk's observation over the last several years. That same pattern seems true for many of the species reared in the deep south.
Most pupae will yield adults if there is time for another brood, but some sibling pupae will overwinter, despite the same time line with regard to development and pupation and identical treatment of pupae.
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Ronald Brechlin and Frank Meister have launched a new publication called ENTOMO-SATSPHINGIA.
Dr. Brechlin writes, "We were/are very
busy ... We (Frank [Meister] and I) have launched a new journal dealing
mainly with saturniids and sphingids, including interesting rearings. In
the future other moth families will also be covered. It is written mainly
in German (with English abstracts [some in Spanish too]), and some
publications are in English.
"So it would be really great if you could put an advertisment for this
journal on your website! Our aim is to publish (1-) 2 issue(s) per year;
and 2 issues are finished already - Entomo-Satsphingia 1/1 (April
2008) and Entomo-Satsphingia 2/1 (March 2009).
The contact link for subscription orders of the journal Entomo-Satsphingia is:
Frank Meister.
The price for the first issue (1/1-2008 [42 pages]) is 16 Euro and for
the 2nd subscription (2/1-2009 [61 pages]) is 19.50 Euro.
The following new taxa have been described in the first 2 editions:
Issue 1/1 (6.4. 2008):
Dirphia albescens Brechlin & Meister, 2008 (formerly known as
[unpublished] Dirphia "naumanni" - on your website as well!)
Janiodes cuscoensis Brechlin & Meister, 2008
Meroleuca catamarcensis Meister & Brechlin, 2008
Molippa bertrandoides Brechlin & Meister, 2008
Paradirphia rudloffi Brechlin & Meister, 2008
Pseudodirphia frickei Meister & Brechlin, 2008
Ptiloscola burmeisteri Meister & Brechlin, 2008
Further more in this subscription there is a rearing report of Caio
harrietae (Forbes, 1944) and a sphingid description of
Polyptychus chinensis shaanxiensis Brechlin, 2008
Issue 2/1 (20.3. 2009):
Actias parasinensis Brechlin, 2009
Antheraea (Antheraea) angustomarginata Brechlin & Meister, 2009
Copaxa novocineracea Brechlin & Meister, 2009
Dysdaemonia australoboreas Brechlin & Meister, 2009
Janiodes napoensis Brechlin, Meister & Kaech, 2009
Salassa bhutanensis Brechlin, 2009
Further more in this issue there is a rearing report of Actias
rhodopneuma Röber, 1925, in addition a publication dealing with the
rediscovery of the Brahmaeid moth Calliprogonos miraculosa Mell, 1937
and descriptions of 4 new sphingids from the Philippines:
Cypa luzonica Brechlin, 2009:
Degmaptera cadioui Brechlin & Kitching, 2009
Sataspes leyteana Brechlin & Kitching, 2009
Automeris chaconoides Brechlin & Meister, 2008
Janiodes oxapampensis Brechlin & Meister, 2008
Meroleuca raineri Brechlin & Meister, 2008
Molippa wenczeli Meister & Brechlin, 2008
Pseudodirphia marxi Brechlin & Meister, 2008
Pseudodirphia singeri Meister & Brechlin, 2008
Pseudodirphia weritzi Brechlin & Meister, 2008
Ptiloscola paraguayensis Brechlin, Meister & Drechsel, 2008
Ptiloscola wolfei Brechlin & Meister, 2008
Antheraea (Antheraea) kalangensis Brechlin & Meister, 2009
Antheraea (Antheraea) paukpelengensis Brechlin & Meister, 2009
Antheraea (Antheraea) rubicunda Brechlin, 2009
Dysdaemonia undulensis Brechlin & Meister, 2009
Janiodes pichinchensis Brechlin, Meister & Kaech, 2009
(see your discussion with Horst and Frank some months ago;) later I
was getting aware that at this time I had aleady [nearly] finished these
descriptions and following we had invited Horst to become a coauthor of
these ones)
Salassa lemaii chiangmaiensis Brechlin & Meister, 2009
Sataspes negrosiana Brechlin & Kitching, 2009"
I will shortly be updating the genus checklists to include the recently described species, and I will also create species files for the additions.
Debbie Lee had some of her cecropia from a March pairing yield adults in June of the same year. usually cecropia are single brooded, but several people have now reported low incidences of this same phenomenon. Debbie obtained a pairing, eggs proved fertile, and she is now rearing a second brood in Alabama. Most of the other cocoons appear that they are in diapause and will overwinter.
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Carlos Mileke has sent many beautiful images of spread specimens from southeastern Barazil: Scolesa viettei male; Procitheronia principalis female (first time on WLSS); Almeidella almeidai female (first time for this species on WLSS); Schausiella spitzi male and female; Schausiella janeira male and female (first time for both on WLSS); Psilopygida basalis male (first time for this species on WLSS); Kentroleuca spitzi male and female (first time for both on WLSS); Kentroleuca lineosa male and female (first time for both on WLSS); Kentroleuca dukinfieldi male and female (first time for both on WLSS); Kentroleuca albilinea female (first time on WLSS);
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Sebastian Brandner has just sent recto and verso images of a recently described species, Goodia egeri T. Bouyer, 2009, from Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea, Africa.
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Norman Smith writes, "I had bought some cocoons of H. gloveri from a gentleman in Sandy, Utah (he has since passed away). They began to emerge in spring in Fresno, California. I had a female emerge, a large, nearly purple colored specimen, indicative of that population in Sandy, but no male to mate her with. I placed her in an envelope in my refrigerator in hopes that a final unhatched cocoon would be male and I could mate them when he finally emerged. It took nearly three weeks for that last cocoon to emerge. It was a male, and believe it or not, when I took the female out of the refrigerator and she warmed up, she had no trouble holding on to the cage and called that night. A successful mating occurred and the ova were fertile. I had never had a moth in the refrigerator that long be successful at mating. I assumed that the cold temperatures that she was used to from her native locality allowed her to withstand my refrigerator for that period of time. You could almost imagine her back in Utah, weathering a cold, late season storm and still being able to mate when it warmed up. These moths are tougher than you think they are."
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Mike van Buskirk has sent a nice image of a female Agapema homogena and found cocoon from southeastern Arizona.
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I got a nice surprise last night (June 18). Around 10:00 pm my wife called me in to take the phone. I was putting luna females out in cages (had two pairings when I checked near dawn). The gentleman on the phone, whom I had never before met, indicated he found a huge moth in his driveway and described it as dark with red and white markings. He knew I was interested in moths and butterflies as I had taught one of his children and had made some presentations in the school over the years. At any rate, I drove out to meet him and have a look at the moth, a monstrous female cecropia. I identified it for him, gave him some info and then went back home to get some live lunas, polyphemus and kasloensis (fror BC) that I had in cages as he and other members of family seemed quite interested . I also took some live cocoons with me including a cecropia cocoon. Some pictures were taken, questions were answered and I now have the female in a bag. No eggs as of yet this morning. If she doesn't start laying early tonight, I will put her in a cage in case she hasn't yet paired.
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Visit Egg availability and prices 2009
Polyphemus, luna, promethea and cecropia eggs are still available.
Sepulcralis eggs were shipped June 17 to US destinations only.
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Ian Miller sent surprise images of Hyles euphorbia from western Wisconsin.
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Sam Jaffe has given me permission to post his beautiful images of butterfly, Sphingidae and Catocala larvae from Massachusetts. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be posting to respective sites.
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Carlos Mielke sent me an electronic copy of recent Nachr. Entomol. publication in which he and co-author Ulf Drechsel describe a new Eudyaris speices from Paraguay. I have posted the new file for Eudyaria sigridae with the original image from Ulf and additional images of spread moth from Carlos.
Carlos has also indicated he will be sending me many images of specimens from southeastern Brazil. I have just posted rare Paradaemonia ruschii female and Copiopteryx virgo female and look forward to receiving and posting more.
Check out Eacles compostportoi male, Eacles lemairei female, Eacles masoni guinlei male = E. m. fulvaster ??, and male and female Molippa superba tangerinii.
I have just posted, many for first time on WLSS: Eacles adoxa female – Kaw, French Guyana; Eacles fairchildi female – BR, Bahia, Barreiras; Eacles manuelita female – BR, Ceará, Serra da Meruoca; Eacles guianensis female – BR, Amazonas, Benjamin Constant; Psilopygida basalis male – BR, Paraná, Tibagi; Schausiella arpi female – BR, Santa Catarina, São Bento do Sul; Schausiella janeira male and female – BR, São Paulo, Tapiraí; Schausiella spitzi female – BR, Distrito Federal, Planaltina; Schausiella spitzi male – BR, Mato Grosso, Alto Rio Arinos; Kentroleuca albilinea female – BR, Minas Gerais, Conceição dos Ouros; Kentroleuca dukinfieldi male and female – BR, Paraná, Castro; Kentroleuca lineosa male and female – BR, Distrito Federal, Brasília; Kentroleuca spitzi male and female - BR, Distrito Federal, Brasília; Leucanella gibbosa male – BR, SP, São Paulo; Leucanella gibbosa female – BR, Paraná, Guaratuba; Leucanella heisleri female – BR, Santa Catarina, São Bento do Sul; Leucanella heisleri male – BR, Santa Catarina, Urubici; Gamelia anableps male and female – BR, Ceará, Guaramiranga; Hyperchirioides bulaea male and female – BR, São Paulo, Cotia; Automerella miersi female – BR, Santa Catarina, Urubici; Dirphia monticola male – BR, Rio de Janeiro, Itatiaia.
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I have just posted marc Fischer's images of Loepa sikkima javanica first three instars (first time depicted) from Cameron-Highlands, Malaysia, being reared on Parthenocissus (first time foodplant listed).
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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.
Horst Kach indicates he wil be sending images for Ecuador. It probably will be late fall before I am able to work on this site in earnest as there is just too much to do right now.
I do not have very much knowledge about this family. Anyone with an abiding interest and some expertise with classification, who would be willing to help with identifications is asked to please contact me by email.
This is a very large family. I probably will not have time to actively persue images and information, but I will make a concerted effort to organize and post what is sent to me.
There are some interesting/beautiful Arctiids here on Prince Edward Island, and I did rear some Lophocampa maculata here this summer.
If you begin to send images, please always indicate as much data as possible with the images: precise location, date, flight season, wingspan, foodplant, extended range, if you know it, etc.
Idalus critheus San Jose, Costa Rica, December 3, 2008, Kirby Wolfe.
Ken Strothkamp writes, "I wanted to contact you well in advance of the summer season to ask your help once again in my research project on Lophocampa maculata. Your efforts last summer provided me with the opportunity to conduct a number of experiments on the PEI variey of this species.
"This winter, I made some progress in developing the RAPD PCR method for population studies of this moth. I have a method to archive DNA from caterpillars or moths and have some very preliminary data on three populations: Oregon, Prince Edward Island (which you provided) and New York (which David Wagner provided). None of my data are yet ready for publication but I believe they demonstrate that the method will provide useful information on the species.
"This summer, I am hoping to obtain material from as many geographic areas across North America as possible. I am trying to find individuals who would be willing to send me either eggs, caterpillars or adults of the species. I would of course pay for mailing. If you are able to get eggs again (or caterpillars later in the summer) I would very much appreciate it.
"I am also interested in any photos, particularly of late instar larvae or adults, from documented locations. There appear to be a number of phenotypic differences among individuals from different regions of the continent and I am trying to document them and hopefully correlate them with the molecular studies. Any information on natural history (larval host plants, etc.) would also be useful.
"My understanding of the range of this species is across the continent on both sides of the US/Canada border and south in the mountains of the US almost to the Mexican border. The populations in the southern mountains, I assume, are remnants isolated there as the climate warmed at the end of the last ice age. There is some geographic information on this species in the BAMONA database but it is limited to the US. I am currently attempting to obtain a paper by McGugan, BM in the Forest Lepidoptera of Canada series (1958). Do you know of any more recent data on the geographic range of moth species? I have Handfield's Papillons du Quebec, which is good but only covers the one province.
"If you know of individuals, particularly across Canada, I might contact I would be very grateful. Or, if you have any ideas on how to find people (email lists, etc) I would be happy to do the "legwork."
"The eggs you sent last summer were invaluable for the work I have been doing and if there is any possiblity of you providing more this summer I would be greatly in your debt."
Ken Strothkamp
Lophocampa maculata is a relativley small Arctiidae moth. The females respond to lights here on PEI in June-July. Females will oviposit readily in an inflated brown paper bag as saturnids do. Eggs are laid in large groups and incubation time is shorter than for Saturniidae. If you think you can help Ken, email him at Ken Strothkamp.
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Catocala Capers
Sam Jaffe larvae and pupae images will be posted shortly.
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Caterpillars Too!, a North American butterfly website:
Sam Jaffe larvae and pupae images will be posted shortly.
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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.
Two new names have been added to the Coleoptera page as of January 16, 2009.
There are also quite a few members interested in Sphingidae, so I will post special Sphingidae page under same conditions. I am also considering an African Sphingidae section if there is sufficient interest and those who can supply high quality images.
A Catocala page will also be posted.
If you wish to have your name, location, interests and email posted on the Coleoptera, Sphingidae or Catocala contacts page, please let me know.
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