Lindsay Oehlke wearing Hyalophora columbia.
Lindsay Oehlke wearing Actias luna.
Hi All,
As of May 12 I still have not taken any cocoons or pupae out of cold storage. Most of the snow has melted here, but there are still some patches on north facing slopes, sheltered by trees and brush. It is supposed to warm considerably for the remainder of the week so I probably will start taking stock out on Friday, May 13:
May 13: 3 luna; 2 polyphemus; 1 cecropia; eclosions: June 5: male luna; male polyphemus; June 6 two male luna; June 8 two female polyphemus, hoping to get a
poly pairing or two June 10 as another
male poly emerged June 10
May 15: 3 luna; 2 polyphemus; 1 cecropia; 1 columbia: eclosions: June 8 female luna; June 9 female luna, both paired one with a wild male; June 10:
female columbia emerged and will be set out for hoeful pairing around 5:00 am June 11. This female never paired
May 17: 5 luna; 3 polyphemus; 2 cecropia; 1 columbia: eclosions:
May 20: 3 luna; 1 polyphemus; 1 cecropia; 1 columbia; week of June 7-14; two male cecropia eclosed, not females yet; female columbia emerged June 13 and paired on 14th;
four female polyphemus emerged, two paired; one female luna emerged and paired
May 23: 2 luna; 2 polyphemus; 1 cecropia: June 15 two female luna and 1 male luna emerged; 1 female paired
May 25: 1 luna; 1 polyphemus
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I am now taking orders for rearing sleeves. If you are thinking of doing any rearing outdoors, now would be the time to order sleeves before I get too busy with my own rearing.
Visit 2015 Egg Prices to see what is expected for spring and summer of 2015 in way of eggs, and also sizes and prices for sleeves. If any of you would like to become an egg shipping partners for 2015, please send me an email, indicating what Saturniidae species you anticipate having and when. I am also looking for additional sources of overwintering Saturniidae cocoons and pupae as well as overwintering swallowtail pupae.
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Rothschildia lebeau forbesi larvae in Texas should spin cocoons week of June 12-19. If you would like to order them, do so now. They are 6.50 US/cocoon and one shipping and handling fee of $9.00 whether you order one cocoon or twenty cocoons, etc. These are expected to emerge in very late June into July. Shipments to US destinations only.
Eupackardia calleta cocoons are available right now from Texas at $6.50/cocoon (only thirty left as of June 10) plus $9.00 S & H.
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To assist us all with an idea of when eggs become available in any given year, the following information is being recorded:
Actias luna eggs shipped from North Carolina, April 1; from Alabama, April 2; Connecticut May 17-18 several wild males flying in and pairing (AB);
Connecticut May 27; June 4 Wisconsin; June 8, 13, 14 Alabama.
Antheraea polyphemus shipped from both Alabama and North Carolina, April 14, Alabama May 8; Alabama May 15; Alabama May 22; New York (BP) May 29-June 1;
Wisconsin: June 2; June 10, 14, 15 New York.
Automeris io shipped from Alabama, May 15 wild caught female (DB); June 4, 14 Wisconsin
Callosamia promethea shipped from North Carolina, April 11; May 4 Virginia; May 25 Connecticut.
Hyalophora cecropia eggs shipped from Alabama, April 4; May 14 North Carolina; May 26-28 North Carolina (AH); May 29-June 1-4; 14 Wisconsin (IM).
Eacles imperialis eggs shipped from Alabama, June 1, wild caught female (DB)
Luna cocoons spinning in Alabama, May 20-30. sold out
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I remain very busy with creation of an alternate WLSS site on a location that will not require a login or password. The site is still a private site and members are expected to keep access confidential.
I am also streamlining the opening page to make it more user friendly (easier to find things). The renaming and relinking of the thousands of files is taking longer than I anticipated, but I still hope to have the new location site fully operational by end of March 2015, now April.
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My oldest daughter, Lindsay, has begun marketing ear rings featuring laminated moth wings, mostly of males hatched from my breeding stock or from wild males that have flown in to my caged female Saturniidae or Sphingidae. She is pictured below wearing Hyalophora columbia and Actia luna.
Lindsay Oehlke wearing Hyalophora columbia.
Lindsay Oehlke wearing Actias luna.
Lindsay also has some Costa Rican butterflies on display from the butterfly house at the Prince Edward Island Preserve Company. Wings are carefully separated from deceased specimens, laminated and cut out. Holes are punched-out in appropriate places in the laminating film so the wings are free swinging from their hooks. Single or double wings can be purchased for each ear in a set.
The jewellry is durable, quite eyecatching and has proven very popular at a recent showing in Charlottetown, PEI, Canada. Contact Lindsay directly via Lindsay Oehlke.
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Ian Miller has just sent me an image of an aberrant luna from Wisconsin. It is somewhat/quite similar to one my father encountered in New Jersey, 2003.
Actias luna aberration, Wisconsin, June 6, 2015
courtesy of Ian Miller.
Actias luna aberrant male, Don Oehlke, April 23, 2003
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Joe Garris sends the following image from Sussex County, New Jersey.
"Unbelievable numbers of cecropia down here in northern New Jersey this May!" Joe Garris.
"This was a very interesting situation (regarding all the male cecropia) to say the least. Feel free to post my images and comments- for what
they're worth... On the evening of May 21 I noticed that one male cecropia was fluttering around the cage where I kept my cecropia pupae. This was a wild male
observed during daylight hours about an hour before dark. That male cecropia was the first cecropia that I'd seen for the year. The cage was near one of my lights
and none of the pupae had as yet eclosed. After dark the males started showing up and kept coming all night long. So as not to count them more than once I carefully
caught them and put them into a gallon plastic ice cream tub and put them in the fridge until morning. Anyway I ended up with 12 for the evening/night of 5/21,
5/22/2015. I let them all go in the morning and they all flew away in perfect condition.
"Since I'd had nights in the past where I'd had as many as 8 male cecropia
show up I simply thought it was an exceptionally good night. I emailed Dr. Dale Schweitzer the next morning and he (like you) thought there must have been a calling
female nearby. I didn't know if there was, but Dale also wondered if one of the pupae was a female and was about to eclose. He was right! By noon the next day one of
the cecropia females in the cage did eclose. This suggested that the male that was fluttering around the cage in daylight the evening prior was attracted to a
pupae that was about to eclose?! And, the other males that were piling in at the lights that night were probably also attracted to/by that pupae that was about to
eclose but had not as yet. I really don't know for sure.
"On May 26 I had another female cecropia eclose and only one male showed up to her calling. Go figure. For several nights running in late May I had as many as
3 males show up but with no females nearby that I knew of. I kept a few cecropia ova and will hopefully (in the next few days) have larvae to rear this summer.
"Also, since 2012 (one that year), I've been seeing Eacles imperialis here in Sussex County. I had never recorded them here before and I'm not sure if they were
present here in the past. Anyway, I'd never seen them. For the 2014 season I recorded 5 that showed up at the lights, all males. I'm hoping to find a female out
there this year. I'd love to rear some local, Sussex County imperialis.
"Also, as of the 2014 season I have recorded 34 species of Catocala at my lights here in Stillwater Township, Sussex County, NJ. I recorded Catocala nebulosa for
the first time for 2014. And, for the 2014 season I recorded a total of 1,234 individual Catocala that showed up at my 2 lights! That's probably my best year ever.
As of the 2014 season I'd recorded a total of 26 species of Sphingidae including Sphinx chersis (which is very uncommon here)."
I suspect the female cecropia that had not eclosed had possibly broken free of the pupa and may have been calling from inside the cocoon even
though she had not escaped, or possibly there was some leakage of pheromone through pupal shell which would surprise me. It is also possible that there was
simply a wild female nearby, within a hundred yards or less from the light, possibly even further away if your light was shining over a wide expanse.
"Thanks for comments on imperialis, Catocala and Sphinx chersis. I will check to see if I need to update pertinent files.
I will also post your comments and my comments about the cecropia onslaught in the newsletter along with one of the images."
"I was reading the information that you've listed regarding Sphinx gordius vs. poecila by comparing the fringes on forewings in Sphingidae of the Americas. I've collected a bunch of gordius/poecila over the years and I can see by comparing what's in my boxes that I have both here in Sussex County NJ. I was never really able to tell one from another before now."
I will be adding Sphinx poecila to the Sussex County Sphingidae page.
Joe has also indicated that he has encountered both Hemileuca maia and Hemileuca nevadensis is Sussex County, New Jersey. I have added the icons for those two species in Sussex County, NJ.
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For the first time on WLSS an Usta yaere is depicted. Alain Coache has granted me permission to post quite a few images to the Senegal species files, and I have updated the Senegal list, based on determinations by Thierry Bouyer. Over the next couple of days, I will update files with new images, courtesy of Alain.
Usta yaere male, Senegal,
courtesy of Alain Coache, id by Thierry Bouyer.
Bunaeopsis male, (undetermined), Senegal, courtesy of Alain Coache.
Micragone nenioides male, Senegal,
courtesy of Alain Coache, id by Thierry Bouyer;
possibly Micragone nenia Bill Oehlke.
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John Christensen has had success with an Hyalophora columbia columbia pairing in Michigan.
Hyalophora columbia columbia in copula, May 18, 2015,
courtesy of John Christensen.
For the first time on WLSS Epiphora murphyi larvae are depicted.
Epiphora murphyi third instars, feeding on Coenothus, Malawi,
courtesy of Thierry Bouyer.
Epiphora murphyi fourth instars, feeding on Coenothus, Malawi,
courtesy of Thierry Bouyer.
Epiphora murphyi fourth instar, feeding on Coenothus, Malawi,
courtesy of Thierry Bouyer.
Epiphora murphyi fifth instar, feeding on Coenothus, Malawi,
courtesy of Thierry Bouyer.
Thomas Desloges provides the following images (recto and verso) from Mbogi, Ituri, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and reports the male was taken during daylight hours, suggesting a diurnal calling period for females. The black antennae and very white ground colour also support a diurnal calling period.
Pseudaphelia simplex male, 72mm (* appears larger), Mbogi, Ituri, Democratic Republic of the Congo,
February 22, 2014, 1250m, courtesy of Thomas Desloges, taken during daylight hours.
Pseudaphelia simplex male, verso, 72mm, Mbogi, Ituri, Democratic Republic of the Congo,
February 22, 2014, 1250m, courtesy of Thomas Desloges, taken during daylight hours.
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Sphingidae Express
I recently received the following Lintneria larvae images from Juan Carlos Garcia. I think there are probably two-four different species depicted, all from the same immediate area. Help with ids would be appreciated.
Lintneria fifth instar, Tlalpujaha, Michoacan, Mexico,
probably L. smithi, more likely L. lugens, 2012, 2500m, courtesy of Juan Carlos Garcia.
Lintneria fourth or fifth instar, Tlalpujaha, Michoacan, Mexico,
possibly ?? L. smithi, more likely L. lugens, 2012, 2500m, courtesy of Juan Carlos Garcia.
Lintneria fifth instar, Tlalpujaha, Michoacan, Mexico,
probably L. separatus, 2012, 2500m, courtesy of Juan Carlos Garcia.
Lintneria earlier instar, Tlalpujaha, Michoacan, Mexico,
possibly?? L. separatus, 2012, 2500m, courtesy of Juan Carlos Garcia.
Lintneria ?? fifth instar, Tlalpujaha, Michoacan, Mexico,
possibly very dark L. separatus 2012, 2500m, courtesy of Juan Carlos Garcia.
For the first two, I had inititally suggested smithi, but both Ian Kitching and Jean Haxaire indicate that smithi is likely in Mexico to be restricted to much more northerly states. Jean Haxaire has suggested lugens, but indicates that is a very tentative id. Jim Tuttle indicates he does not think the first two are lugens. Ian, Jean and Jim all support separatus for the "black and red" ones.
Larvae of many Lintneria species are not well known outside of the US. If you encounter one, it would be great if you can rear it through to adulthood and send images of both the larva and the moth.
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For the first time on Sphingidae of the Americas website, Smerinthus ophthalmica are depicted in copula.
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Jean Haxaire recently provided many images from his 2014 trip to southern Arizona and northern Mexico. He was able to get the terlooii to pupate. This is the first time a Proserpinus terlooii pupa is depicted on Sphingidae of the Americas website.
Proserpinus terlooii fifth instar, Sonora, Mexico,
July 2014, courtesy of Jean Haxaire.
Proserpinus terlooii pupa, Sonora, Mexico,
courtesy of Jean Haxaire.
Many thanks to Leslie Hubbard who encountered a freshly emerged female Pachysphinx modesta, June 5, 2015. Leslie got to watch the moth inflate its wings, and then found it coupled with a male the following morning.
Leslie writes, "Was cleaning out my flower bed today June 5, 2015 about 4:00 pm. All of a sudden "this thing" appeared - it was unlike anything I had seen before. Reminded me of a hellbender you see in streams. Within 4 hours it morphed into a big poplar sphinx. I have watched monarchs go through their life cycles but this was a new one on me. Thought you might enjoy the pictures. Really didn't know much about moth life cycles until today - thanks for all your wonderful information!"
Pachysphinx modesta female newly emerged, left (June 5); in copula right (June 6),
Litchfield, Kennebec County, Maine, courtesy of Leslie Hubbard.
Pachysphinx modesta female hanging/inflating, left (June 5); inflated/resting (June 5),
Litchfield, Kennebec County, Maine, courtesy of Leslie Hubbard.
 | Almost fully inflated, the wings are still quite soft. The inflating process usually takes 15-30 minutes, and then it is often an hour or two after that that fluid has hardened and wings are stiff and ready for flight.The female usually does not fly until she has copulated with a male. Shortly before midnight she extends a wick-like structure from abdominal tip and exudes a pheromone (scent) into the night sky. Males fly into the wind and track the pheromone to locate the female. |
Neither the male nor female will eat anything in the adult stage. They have no mouth parts or feeding tubes. It would seem their sole purpose is reproduction, and they only usually live off fats stored from their caterpillar days for an adult life of 5-8 days.
Perhaps in 4-6 weeks Leslie will find a caterpillar or two feeding on a nearby poplar or willow. There is probably one in her yard near the garden!
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Catocala Capers
Stuart Marcus, Refuge Manager, Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge, Liberty, TX, frequently sends me Catocala images from Texas. This is the first time I am able to display a live Catocala illecta on my North American Catocala site. Apparently the hindwing colouration ranges from orange to yellow.
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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 $1.15 (2015 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;
4) helping to pay my daughter's tuition (She has now completed her B.A. (two years ago) and B. Ed. (spring 2013) and is certified to teach)
and has been working full time as of September with contract until end of first semester in January.
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 $1.15 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.