Actias luna, Alan Lee stock, Alabama, courtesy of Mark Laverman, May 18, 2008.
Actias luna, Alan Lee stock, Alabama, courtesy of Mark Laverman, May 18, 2008.
It now should now be possible to purchase fresh non-diapausing cocoons of luna, polyphemus, angulifera, securifera, off and on throughout the summer season. Payment by Paypal is prefered for summer stock as it needs to be shipped as soon as larvae have pupated inside the cocoons. Adult moths can emerge in as few as 12 days from spin up when aided by summer heat. Always enquire first before sending a payment.
Non diapausing Papilio (Heraclides) cresphontes butterfly pupae (giant swallowtail) were also successfully shipped from Dirk Bayer's rearings in Alabama. Quite a few people have put in requests for these, and I will post notices in newsletter when the next batch is anticipated and also send ouit notices to those on the waiting list. There is already a waiting list of six people.
Non-diapausing pupae of the black swallowatail and the spicebush swallowtail are also now being offered.
June 15, 2008
Hi All,
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This newsletter covers updates from May 17, to June 16, 2008.
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If you are interested in purchasing eggs or taking advantage of special offers (seldom offered species, papered specimens, etc.) as they arise, please consult the "Mothly Newsletters" which are updated at least once a week and are archived on site. There is a special link to Eggs 2008 so you can see what is anticipated with prices. Some eggs will probably be ready for shipping from Alabama starting the latter half of March. Already (March 14) some eggs have been shipped. Poly and cecropia eggs are also still being shipped May 9 form Alabama.
This is the most extensive list of North American Saturniidae that I have ever offered.
I have added a number of Sphingidae species to the eggs for sale list.
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Freshly spun (May 29-30) Actias luna cocoons are available at $3.85/cocoon plus $8.00 shipping and handling. There are only about twenty left. I suspect they will hatch very early in June. Enquire first to confirm availability.
Fresh polyphemus eggs continue to be available and fresh luna and cecropia eggs are available now (June 2).
Eggs of two hybrids are available June 2:
Hyalophora euryalus x Hyalophora columbia columbia (Canada only) and
Hyalophora euryalus c Hyalophora cecropia (USA only).
The eggs will only be available for a short time and are $12.00 for first dozen and $6.00 for each additional dozen in same package.
Fresh Hyalophora euryalus eggs are available now (June 3) for shipping within Canada. They are from British Columbia, reared females paired with wild males.
Eacles imperialis female, form nobilis, Baldwin County, Alabama,
May 20 2008, courtesy of Dirk Bayer.
The female paired with a typical male, May 20, and eggs should be available for shipping on May 22. Contact Bill.
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Alan Marson has just sent me a series of beautiful images of Eacles penelope larvae, all instars, reared on sweetgum. Images are linked from the penelope page and also form the Larva Photos page.
Alan has also sent Rhodinia newara and they are treated same as above.
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Jeremy Laratro has just sent a stunning image of a male Citheronia regalis, eclosed June 9, 2008, from stock supplied by WLSS.
Steve Ife has just sent stunning images of a female Citheronia regalis. Images up in photography section.
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I have updated Leroy Simon collection with images of Cricula jordani, Dirphia panamensis fassli, Dirphia thliptophana, Lonomia species and Brahmaeidae: Brahmaea certhia, B. christophi and B. hearseyi.
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Jean-Louis Albert has just sent me very nice images from Franceville, Gabon. Included are recto and verso images of spread Imbrasia obscura (golden form), female; Bunaea alcinoe male; Pseudobunaea tyrrhena neglecta male.
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I have just posted two articles: one to the Members' Articles section entitled "Water Hazard", by Dirk Bayer; one to the Bill's Articles Section entitled "Murder/Mayhem".
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Bernhard Wenczel has advised me that Luigi Racheli has recently described two new species, Molippa kohlli and Paradirphia wenczeli, both from Peru. Bernhard also sent images. I will upload those two new files very shortly.
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I am going to begin taking cocoons out of cold storage a few days earlier this year. We had a beautiful sunny day today (May 3) with temperatures around 60 F, and the long range forecast calls for a very nice coming week, although it still get down to near freezing at night. We can have frosts up until June 10.
I keep cocoons indoors in emerging cages, and I tend to keep the house cool. Most species took slightly over a month to develop last spring, so I am going to try for some early June eclosions by taking a couple of polyphemus, luna and cecropia out of cold storage on Monday, May 5. Peak flight times here for the four large Saturniidae species tend to be mid June.
I do like to scatter the eclosions and pairings throughout June to handle the late egg orders and also to spread out the rearing season so everything doesn't have to go out at the same time or be harvested at same time. Our weather is also quite unpredictable, and we can have a run of very cold and/or wet weather just about any time in June.
May 5: I took fourteen A. polyphemus (A.L.) cocoons out of cold
storage.
Male poly eclosed June 8
May 7: I took two poly, two luna, three columbia and two cecropia
out of storage as well as all S.p.
Female polyphemus eclosed June 9 and paired. Second female eclosed
June 13 and paired, both with wild males which are abundant at light when
there are calling females present, June 9-date (June 17).
Lunas emerged June 14.
Two male S.p. eclosed June 7
Steady stream of S. P. eclosions up to June 16 and I have had seven
pairings. On June 16-17 several wild male polyphemus were flying
about the outdoor emergence cage around midnight. I did not see any
calling female polyphemus present.
I put one wild male in with S.p. and he mated readily with her.
Eggs probably will not develop.
One columbia female emerged June 15; two females emerged June 16; all
three paired with wild males June 17 between 4:45 am and 5:15 am
May 9: I took six cecropia, three poly, three luna, three columbia,
five H.e. and six large C.p. out of storage.
Two male H.e. eclosed June 7; female eclosed June 12
but males were either two far spent or siblings that showed no interest.
Three luna eclosed June 15, first pairing June 16.
Polyphemus female eclosed indoors June 16-17.
May 11: I took six cecropia, two poly, six luna, three columbia out
of cold storage.
May 13: I took one cecropia, one columbia and five luna out of cold storage.
May 16: I took two luna, one columbia, one cecropia and one polyphemus out of cold storage.
May 20: I took all large Ceratocampinae out of cold storage.
June 1: I will begin taking small Sphingidae out of cold storage and
will stagger them also.
First male S. cerisyi eclosed June 14, more June 15; females eclosed
June 15 and wild males were introduced to cage. Three pairings
June 16-17.
June 20: I will take Papilios out of cold storage. It has been quite cool here so I have delayed these.
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New member Rakha Singh of the United Kingdom maintains a website at www.butterflyimages.co.uk.
Rakha offers enlarged prints of worldwide butterflies and will soon be expanding to include some Saturniidae.
Check out the website!
I have not seen the finished product, but it sounds interesting. The prints, which can come in a variety of sizes, would probably make spectacular displays.
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Sighting Reports
I am very interested in receiving sighting reports (date and specific location, including county/parish and state and/or province) for Saturniidae and Sphingidae throughout the year. The reports will be posted in newsletters and will also be used to update the state files and flight times.
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Sphingidae Express
Valerie Passoa sent me notice of the recent passing (March 18, 2008) of Janice Stiefel of Wisconsin. Janice provided much data and gave me permission to use her Sphingidae and Catocala images and data. I will soon be creating a Door County, Wisconsin, larval thumbnail page dedicated to Janice.
Janice did a great job of observing and recording and frequently reared found larvae to adult stage and also procured eggs from captured females and was successful in her attempts at rearing.
Her helpful, humble patient personality led many people to bring to her found larvae for identification and documentation.
I found her tidbits of information a delight to read, both for their usefulness and charming style.
Valerie did a great job in her tribute celebrating the lepidopterist's side of Janice's life.
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Sphingidae Updates
Fernando Penco of Argentina has begun to send me images of Sphingidae, several of them not previously depicted on Sphingidae of the Americas: Neogene reevei and Manduca tucumana. He indicates more will be coming and he also has some very interesting Saturniidae.
Most recently I have received images of Eumorpha neuburgueri, Xylophanes schreiteri, Manduca undata, Sphinx phalerata, Manduca bergi and Adhemarius palmeri. I am hoping to receive electronic images of Sphinx aurigutta, Hyles anneiNeogene carrerasi in the future. Some are very rare.
Contact Fernando Penco in Argentina if you are interested in exchanging/purchasing specimens.
Fernando indicates he is currently rearing Ithomisa kinkellini. He apparently also has contact with many other collectors in Argentina.
Regular sightings of Hyles lineata arrived from California and Idaho and there has been a steady stream of sightings from Texas and the southeastern U.S. It is hard to keep up.
I have just received a request from Poland for Pachysphinx occidentalis eggs/pupae. If any of you take this western species, please let me know.
Sherry Gerald has given me permission to post her Sphingidae images and data for Forrest County in southeastern Mississippi so I have created a Forrest County pictoral checklist.
Male Smerinthus jamaicensis at light in Montague,
June 6.
Male Smerinthus cerisyi at light in Montague,
June 7.
Male Dryocampa rubicunda at light in Montague,
June 7. Very abundant June 14-date (June 17). I took a lone female on
June 15.
June 17 S. cerisyi, L.bombycoides (surprise as I haven't seen one in
several years), P. modesta, P. myops (all males so far).
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Arctiidae Art
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Catocala Capers
Dirk Bayer sent an image of a mature Catocala ilia larva from southern Alabama.
Dirk Bayer has been taking Catocala similis at lights, May 10-11, Bon Secour, Alabama.
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Caterpillars Too!, a North American butterfly website:
Alabama pages have been updated.
I am adding hand pairing and force feeding articles to Caterpillars Too! website. This site has also moved to a username, password location. CT members who have not yet submitted passwords for the new location should do so. Password has to be a minimum of seven letters, no punctuation, no spaces, and for consitency, please use all lower case letters.
Direct links to Sphingidae pictoral thumbnail checklists for respective counties are also being added to CT homepages. Checklists for Catocala at the state level are also being added.
Caterpillars Too! is distinct from WLSS. CT covers North American butterflies and their larvae. One-time-life-time registration fee is $20.00.
I have also added or am in process of adding spreading techniques, hand pairing and force feeding articles to the Caterpillars Too! homepages. Done!
Sherry Gerald has provided me with electronic images/data of many butterfly species from Forrest County, Mississippi. Many of her sightings are of species not currently recorded on USGS site for Forrest County so I will be creating, updating and posting the Mississippi maps 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.
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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