Hyalophora columbia male, Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia,
June 17, 2017, courtesy of Krista.
Hyalophora columbia female, Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia,
June 13, 2017, courtesy of Krista.
Hi All,
Happy Father's Day to all fathers, June 18!
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Callosamia angulifera eggs were shipped to US destinations from Maryland June 15. It is anticipated that Automeris io will be shipped to US destinations from New Hampshire and/or Virginia June 17 or June 19.
Possibly Hyalophora columbia will be shipped June 19 as will Antheraea polyphemus.
Citheronia regalis are expected to be ready for shipping to US destinations, probably starting around June 24 (just a guess). They could be coming from either Maryland or Ohio. Eacles imperialis will likely be ready for shiping very late June or early July.
Regalis eggs were shipped from Maryland June 26, and imperialis eggs were shipped from Ohio June 26. Automeris io eggs were shipped from Virginia June 19 and June 26.
Luna and polyphemus will probably be ready for shipping late June or early July from New York.
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In addition to the price of the eggs, in the USA there will be one shipping and handling fee of $8.00 for each egg packet shipped as I have to pay my egg shippers for their efforts and expenses, and I am going to keep some money for myself after paying taxes on profits.
My US shipping partners keep some eggs from each batch that they ship for quality control. If the control eggs fail to hatch, customers will get refunds or replacements. Eggs of most species hatch within twelve days of deposition. Some species like io, cecropia, colombia can take 18-20 days. Please let me know immediately (within twenty days of deposition date) if there seems to be a problem with the eggs you have received.
I do not offer refunds for eggs that have died in transit due to postal delays or for larvae that fail to survive on the foodplants that you offer, but if control eggs have also failed to hatch, you will receive replacements or refund.
USA prices with payment in US dollars to US destinations (don't forget the additional S & H fee of $8.00 for each species):
Actias luna $5.50/dozen
Antheraea polyphemus $5.50/dozen
Automeris io $6.00/dozen
Callosamia promethea $5.50/dozen
Callosamia securifera $7.00/dozen; only maybe on this species as often females are skittsh and hard to pair
Citheronia regalis $8.00/dozen
Dryocampa rubicunda $5.50/dozen (maybe)
Eacles imperialis $8.00/dozen
Hyalophora cecropia $6.00/dozen
Hyalophora colombia $7.00/dozen (maybe)
Samia cynthia $6.00/dozen
Don't forget the shipping fee of $8.00 for all species being shipped by my shipping partners from within the US to US destinations.
If you are in the US and anticipate having Saturniidae eggs this spring/summer and would like to become one of my US shipping partners, please send me a personal email and let me know what US species you anticipate you will have for shipping. There are no taxes that I have to charge customers for eggs shipped within US, but there is approximate 5% Paypal fee on total order if you will be using Paypal as your payment method. That is currently built into the prices listed above.
Canadian prices with payment in Canadian dollars to destinations within Canada:
Please note shipping charges will vary depending upon you postal code. The amount of GST or HST that I have to collect will also vary depending upon your province. Shipping charges, taxes and Paypal transaction fees are in addition to the egg prices listed below:
Actias luna $5.50/dozen
Antheraea polyphemus $5.50/dozen
Callosamia promethea $5.50/dozen
Dryocampa rubicunda $5.50/dozen
Hyalophora cecropia $6.50/dozen
Hyalophora columbia $6.50/dozen
Samia cynthia $5.50/dozen
There is also the possibility of Eacles imperialis pini at $7.00/dozen and Automeris io at $7.00/dozen, but they would depend upon availability from a shipping partner in Ontario. All prices for Canadian livestock are in Canadian dollars. I am now able to receive interac payments from customers in Canada. This is a speedy way of doing business, and is often less expensive than Paypal.
Overseas shipping would be exclusively the first seven species mentioned for Canada. Possibly I will also have Anisota virginiensis eggs in July.
I deal only with livestock of North American species (Canada, USA). If you have requests for other Canada/US species not listed above, let me know your interests and I will try to find a source.
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I began taking stock out of cold storage May 13, 2017:
about twenty undersized polyphemus cocoons for school display: four polyphemus eclosed June 8. One female paired with a wild male during wee hours of the morning,
June 9. Cocoons were taken to school June 12; 3 moths emerged in school June 13, one more on June 14. Students released them June 15.
two large luna
two large polyphemus
one cecropia
eight Cp
five Sc
I have continued to take cocoons out of cold storage, including Hyalophora columbia, a couple every other day until May 23 and will take out a couple luna and a couple polyphemus out on May 24, 25. I will be travelling May 26-May 29 and probably will not be able to access computer while I am away. I anticipate being able to ship eggs to Canadian customers from mid June, possibly into very early July.
On June 12 I had four polyphemus females pair; June 12-13 three columbia males emerged; June 15 a female columbia emerged; June 11-15 six male luna have emerged; June 14 and 15 large male polyphemus have emerged.
We had frost warning on June 14 and have it again for tonight, June 15, in low lying inland areas. I am on a hill close to the water. Have seen no frost, but usually nothing is flying when it gets below 7C and it wsas probably down to 4-5C here June 14.
Things warmed up a bit on June 16 and a big female polyphemus paired with a wild male on the 16th, and between 4:37am and 4:58am two large caged female Hyalophora columbia paired with fresh big males. I will be shipping columbia and polyphemus eggs to Canadian customers on June 19. There is also a good chance I will be shipping cecropia eggs on 19th as well as a large female has just emerged from one of my cocoons, morning of June 17. Hope she will pair tonight and start laying eggs Sunday evening.
So far (up to June 17) seven to eight luna males (some of them very large) emerged but no females thus far. Hope some females emerge soon.
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During week of June 19-24, Derek Bridgehouse and I will be making our anual trip to Malay Falls/Lochaber Mines, Nova Scotia, for two nights of collecting and getting caged female Saturniidae paired. We have been making this anual trip since 1997, and it is always a fun time. We are just waiting for weather forecast to give us two good nights in succession.
We had a great trip with many pairings of luna, polyphemus, cecropia and columbia, and I did take a rosy maple female at lights.
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Krista, Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia, has sent me images of wild male columbia and cecropia that recently flew in (June 14 cecropia - June 17 columbia) and paired with caged females, so we know the local populations are on the wing.
Hyalophora columbia male, Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia,
June 17, 2017, courtesy of Krista.
Hyalophora columbia female, Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia,
June 13, 2017, courtesy of Krista.
Bernhard Wenczel has just sent me an image of a live Mexicantha arellanoi female. I will be posting it shortly as well as the many images of larvae previously sent by Bernhard.
Bernhard has also sent image of live male and larvae of Automeris occidentalis from mexico. This is first time larva of this species is depicted on WLSS. Bernhard reports success rearing larvae on honey locust.
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Sphingidae Express
Daniel Marlos of What's That Bug sent me an image of a Sphecodina abbottii larva from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Winnipeg is noted for its brutally cold winters so I suspect this sighting is the result of a stray adult, or an egg or larva being imported on host plant foliage.
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Catocala Capers
John Christensen has sent me this beautiful image of what I believe is Catocala benjamini mayhewi from San Diego County in southern California.
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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 $1.25 (2017 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;
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 $1.25 postage (2015 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.