Hi All,
Happy Father's Day in June,
Spring is now upon us. Once again I will be offering eggs of many Saturniidae species, with eggs being supplied to US destinations via US breeders who ship for me under my shipping label. Either I or other Canadian breeders, who will also ship under my label, will be shipping eggs to Canadian destinations. Not all species will be available in Canada. Not all species will be available overseas.
Please visit 2011 Saturniidae eggs: species, prices, payment methods and policies before ordering any eggs.
For my own records: Alabama luna eggs (DB) became available March 24, 2011; polyphemus eggs (DB) became available March 25, Cecropia eggs (DB) became available March 28. Securifera became available last week, regalis from Alabama became available on April 18. All of these will produce multiple broods except for the cecropia.
These species and many more will be available on and off throughout the season. Be sure to include your shipping address in the text of the email when placing an order.
Wild luna laying in Alabama April 3-4; polyphemus mating 3-4; cecropia, securifera early to mid April; regalis April 18; wild female io April 20; wild female imperialis, April 22.
Luna laying in Maryland (BM) April 27.
Promethea laying in Maryland May 29.
Luna, polyphemus, cecropia, June 1, Wisconsin; promethea June 3 (IM).
Luna, polyphemus, cecropia, June 1, Pennsylvania (NB).
Io, angulifera, cecropia, luna, sepulcralis, June 3, Virginia (DRS).
P. modesta (IM) in Wisconsin, June 4.
Cecropia in PA (DK); luna Wisconsin (IM)
Some Heraclides cresphontes (giant swallowtail) pupae have already been shipped from Alabama, and more will be available shortly after Easter, and probably off and on throughout season.
Luna and polyphemus cocoons should be available mid to late May from the first spring flights in Alabama.
Luna cocoons are ready for shipping May 12. There are also more cresphontes ready for shipping, May 12.
Polyphemus laying after pairing with wild male in Staten Island, New York, (TJ), May 9-10.
Cecropia in Virginia May 15 (DRS); May 14 in Wisconsin (IM); May 20 in New York (TJ).
Luna again in Wisconsin, May 22 (IM).
Luna cocoons available for shipping from New Jersey, June 19 (all spoken for); probalby more in two to three weeks.
Regalis eggs available from multiple sources early to mid June: Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania.
Hyalophora gloveri and Antheraea polyphemus eggs available from Colorado, mid June.
Taylor Jones sends this "baby picture' of a polyphemus hatchling in Staten Island, New york.
We have been having relatively cool damp weather here on PEI and I have not seen any butterflies as yet, May 16, but I have started taking cocoons out of cold storage.
May 13: one female polyphemus, several males; one or two female lunas, several males; female columbia; one or two female cecropia; all io and promethea.
Small male luna eclosed June 2, followed by two small males and female on June 3, male on June 4, male on June 5.
May 16: two female poly, two female luna; female Columbia; one or two female cecropia; all Sphingidae and other earth pupators.
May 19: several female poly; several female luna; four cecropia, a couple of additional Sphingidae I missed on May 16.
I have just a couple of large luna (two luna) and polyphemus (two polyphemus) that I will take out of cold storage on May 23 (done).
We had first really nice warm sunny day of May on May 19. Mostly overcast, cool and or rainy for earlier May. Had to work in shirt sleeves yesterday on roof as it was too warm for coveralls. While driving late at night on May 19th I was seeing quite a few moths and June bugs, but earliest I have ever seen Saturniidae here is May 26 in a year when we had a warm early spring. I will probably put my 175 watt MV light up on roof top weekend of May 28, maybe not even then if it remains cool.
The cocoons I have taken out of cold storage are currently sitting in three open boxes (Sphingidae and other earth pupators in sealed plastic tub) on kitchen table. This time of year daytime house temperatures are usually in high 50's to low 60's, and I light the wood burning stove in late afternoon and burn some wood all night for night time temps in high 60's to low seventies. I will likely move cocoons outside in another few days. If I want to force a few earlier, I will put them in a spare bedroom with a space heater and raise temps to high 70s to low 80s.
Two female columbia emerged June 8 and have failed to call in males as of June 13. Remarkably they have not started dumping eggs yet, so I will try again tomorrow morning. Days have also been relatively cool as well, but I did get a polyphemus pairing on her third night out, June 12. Two males shoed up at her cage after a reasonably warm day. It has been very cold at night, June 8-11.
No wild lunas have flown in to pair with two caged females, and weather for the next three to four days is supposed to contnue cool and rainy. When the moths do start flying, they will probably all come in a rush.
I did get two indoor pairings of Anisota virginiensis, June 10 and June 12. They pair up quite readily in indoor cages.
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Jean-Louis Albert sent me images, recto and verso of a female Epiphora ploetzi from Koulamoutou, Ogooue-Lolo, Gabon. It was expected from that area, but this marks first time I have a confirmation form that province.
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Alan Marson has sent beautiful images of all instars of Automeris exigua larvae from Ecuador. It is first time instars 1-4 have been depicted on WLSS. Alan writes, "I had about 10 larvae to start with and they accepted Buckthorn (Rhamnus carthartica). However, they gradually died one by one until I just had one fully grown larva left. In hindsight maybe another foodplant would have worked better."
Automeris exigua fifth instars, Ecuador, courtesy of Alan Marson.
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For the first time on WLSS a live female Pseudautomeris grammivora has been depicted courtesy of Alejandro Borquez. Foodplants (image) are also provided as are additional images of eggs, early and late instars, cocoon and pupae, and some interesting data.
Pseudautomeris grammivora female-Ex ovum, José C. Paz, Pcia. Buenos Aires, Argentina,
January, 15, 2011, courtesy of Alejandro Borquez.
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fernando Calvo has provided images of live Polythysana cinerascens male and female from Quilpue, Valparaiso, Chile.
Fernando has also advised me of a correction that I have fixed: male image sent as cinerascens by Hubert Mayer is actually a male Polythysana rubrescens.
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Sam Jaffe writes, "I found a nice large group of Hemileuca lucina yesterday (May 28, 2011) - early instars. I have found these for the last four years running and always on Spirea alba (Massachusetts). I noticed your host plant info for the species didn't include it. I hope I'm clever enough to get eggs from these this fall."
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Many thanks to Fernando Calvo who provides this image of what I am pretty sure is a male Ormiscodes rufosignata from Chile. A verso image is also posted to the rufosignata file. It is the first time this species is depicted on WLSS. Larvae and their hosts are unknown. Perhaps Fernando will find a female and rear and photgraph the larvae.
Ormiscodes rufosignata male, Valparaiso, Chile,
May 23, 2011, courtesy of Fernando Calvo,
id by Bill Oehlke.
Ian Miller has reported cecropia kept at around 65F have emerged in about 33 days after coming out of cold storage. More precise details on cecropia file. Ian also sends this image of a male cecropia from Wisconsin.
Hyalophora cecropia male, Wisconsin, May 17, 2011, courtesy of Ian Miller.
Rainer Plontke has had success rearing Eacles imperialis on English Oak (Quercus robur), a new foodplant listing for imperialis, but they have been known to accept many oak species.
Eacles imperialis male, reared on Quercus robur,
courtesy of Rainer Plontke.
Frederic Beneluz has sent me images of the following species not previously depicted on WLSS. All images are of spread moths from French Guiana. All have been posted to respective files.
Pseudautomeris toulgoeti male and female;
Automeris jucundoides female;
Automeris arminia female;
Automeris goodsoni male;
Automeris orestes female;
Adelowalkeria torresi female;
Hylesia frederici female.
I am very pleased to receive these images and be able to post them.
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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
155 Peardon Road
Montague, Prince Edward Island, C0A 1R0
Canada
Postage from USA to Canada is $0.75 so please use that amount on your envelope with your payment.
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Sphingidae Express
I am making good progress with thumbnail checklists for the following South American countries: French Guiana, Colombia, Peru, largely inspired by submissions from Andres Urbas (FG); Gregory Nielsen (Colombia); and Peter Bruce-Jones (Peru). When I have finished those countries, I will work on Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana and Ecuador. The CATE Sphingidae site is a great help with making determinations.
Robert Vuattoux has also sent me some Sphingidae images from New Caledonia so I will work on identifications and postings/lists for that area.
Rainer Plontke recently (May 21, 2011) had a pairing of Smerinthus ocellata. This species was reared on willow (Salix).
Smerinthus ocellata pair, May 21, 2011, courtesy of Rainer Plontke.
Catocala Capers
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