Hi All,
I am now taking orders for eggs:
The following prices are available to U.S. members only for prepaid orders for Saturniidae eggs, to be shipped by egg subcontractors within U.S.:
Actias luna, Antheraea polyphemus, Automeris io, Callosamia promethea all at $11.00 U.S. for one dozen, $15.00 for two dozen; $19.00 for three dozen.
Callosamia angulifera, Callosamia securifera, Citheronia regalis, Citheronia sepulchralis, Eacles imperialis, Hyalophora cecropia all at $12.00 U.S. for one dozen, $17.00 for two dozen; $22.00 for three dozen.
Hyalophora columbia at $16.00 U.S. for one dozen; $22.00 for two dozen; $28.00 for three dozen.
All of the above should also be available for shipping to overeas destinations. Add $2.00 to each price for overseas shipping.
Within Canada I only expect to have the following species available: Actias luna, Antheraea polyphemus, Hyalophora cecropia and Hyalophora columbia, maybe Citheronia regalis, maybe Eacles imperialis pini, maybe Callosamia promethea, maybe Hyalophora columbia gloveri.
Express shipping in Canada will be either $10.00 or $11.00 Canadian, just for the envelope for anyone in Quebec or west of Quebec. The eggs alone are $4.00/dozen for luna and poly; $6.00 for cecropia and columbia; and $8.00/dozen for regalis and imperialis pini. I can probably give a much lower quote for shipments going to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick where the expensive shipping would not be necessary. If you are in Canada (Quebec and west) and want to accept risk of shipping by regular airmail instead of Express Post, I can give a lower quote. However, beware, if a female is laying on Wednesday night and I ship fresh eggs on Thursday morning by regular airmail, eggs may spend two weekends in post office before you get them (not good). I cannot accept, if/then orders, too much record keeping and too much headache.
I cannot guarantee I will have a female laying on Sunday night for Monday morning shipping. That's just not the way it works. Rain, cold, uncooperative moths are all beyond my control.
In late July -- early August, eggs of a number of southwestern (Arizona) species will probably be available again this year. I will send out notices in early July to those who express interest. Many people had great success last year with Anisota oslari, Antheraea oculea, Automeris cecrops pamina, Eacles oslari, Hyalophora columbia gloveri, Citheronia Splendens, Sphingicampa hubbardi, Sphingicampa montana. Note, however, these eggs become available in late July early August. I cannot ship them/have then shipped before they are ready.
Please submit all orders by email for a final quote and payment instructions, and, when sending payment, please indicate with your payment the specific species ordered and quantities for each.
If you have eggs on a regular basis of species not listed above and would like to become an egg subcontractor, please let me know.
Hundreds of orders were filled last year by egg subcontractors with excellent success.
Spring, summer and early fall months are extremely busy times for me with pairings, shipping, larval care, record keeping, etc. if you are going to order eggs, please educate yourself as much as possible by reading accounts of individual species for foodplant listings and pupation techniques.
Occasionaly I get special requests such as, "please only send luna eggs from Prince Edward Island because I want single brood stock." For many species, there is no such thing as single brood stock. The larvae take cues from the environment: light and temperature for sure; food quality, magnetic fields, possibly, to determine whether they will produce a single brood or multiple broods.
I have shipped luna and polyphemus eggs from P.E.I. in June from local stock to southern states. Larvae that would typically take five to six weeks to mature here under local outside conditions (daytime temps in 70, nightime high 50's-60's) have gone from hatchlings to cocoon stage in as few as nineteen days under ideal growth conditions (constant temps day and night of low 80s, high humidity, lots of natural and/or artificial light).
Conversely, species that would normally produce five-six broods annually from much further south, will only produce as many broods here or elsewhere as local conditions dictate.
If you rear stock indoors and that stock progresses faster than outdoor stock due to more even indoor night-time temperatures, and the indoor stock gets exposure to much more light, do not be surprised if cocoons hatch without overwintering, whereas, if reared from the same egg batch outdoors, the larvae will take cues from the environment and go into a prolonged "winter" diapause.
Please visit http://www.insectcompany.com/silkmoth/eggform2007.htm for what I hope will be a useful printable order form.
I am going to consider shipping Sphingidae eggs again to U.S. destinations from within U.S., and I have at least one subcontractor interested who can likely supply the following: Sphinx chersis, Sphinx drupiferarum, Sphinx kalmiae, Patchysphinx modesta, Paonias myops, Smerinthus cerisyi, all from Michigan, all at $12.00/dozen, $16.00/two dozen; $20.00/three dozen. Drupiferarum and kalmiae larvae get quite large and are very beautiful.
From Prince Edward Island I can probably ship Sphinx poecila, Pachysphinx modesta, Paonias excaecata, Smerinthus cerisyi, but again the expensive Express postage would come into play. It is not difficult to get the Sphingidae to pupate without a soil mix.
In the spring I put the naked pupae (sometimes still wrapped in tissue--same way for C. regalis and E. imperialis and D. rubricunda and A. virginiensis) in a large plastic tub, lid on tight, no airholes. The large tub, about 20 gallon size, has a layer of damp paper towels on the bottom, a couple of layers of bubble pack over the damp towelling, and then a layer of dry paper towelling. I set the pupae on top of the dry paper towelling and drape a couple of layers of paper towels from top to bottom of one side for climbing, hanging and inflating of moths.
The above set up has worked very well for me. I usually get my female Sphingidae at lights, but also have no problem getting pairings by placing emerged/reared females in cages and then inserting wild males taken at lights.
Let me know if you want to try some of the Sphingidae. care of larvae is same as for Saturniidae, except as larvae mature, they are moved to soil-less pupation buckets.
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In the U.S. I still (March 12) have Antheraea polyphemus cocoons (about twenty-five still not spoken for) at $4.00; plus one shipping and handling fee of $7.00. All else is sold out except for breeding stock.
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It is very useful to me to have flight dates and location to county level from all locales for all species, even still in the United States. Please send data for inclusion on webpages for Saturniidae (worldwide), Sphingidae (Americas only) and Catocala.
Robert Goodden of Worldwide Butterflies is planning a three week trip to Ecuador this fall. He is interested in learning of some good spots for observing/collecting Sphingidae/Saturniidae/etc. and would appreciate any tips. Pass them along, and I will forward them to Robert.
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Stefan Naumann has sent images of many moths not previously depicted on WLSS: Lemaireia schintlmeisteri male and females, Mindanao, Philippines; Neodiphthera albicera, Neodiphthera habemana, Neodiphthera papuana, Neodiphthera schaarschmidti, Neodiphthera venusta, all from Papua New Guinea; Adafroptilum acutum, Adafroptilum bellum, Adafroptilum coloratum, Adafroptilum singularum, Adafroptilum tricoronatum, Adafroptilum tuberculatum, all from Africa.
Stefan has also sent an image of an Antheraea platessa male and indicates that "Antheraea pernyi yunnanensis was synonymized with platessa by Pauksatdt, Paukstadt, & Naumann 2000, but shortly later cited as Antheraea (Antheraeopsis) yunnanensis by Paukstadt, Brosch, & Paukstadt, 2000 due to the mixed-up genitalia figure of Zhu & Wang 1996. The holotype of yunnanensis is clearly platessa, thereby the citation in the second publication is wrong."
Stefan has also recently sent an upgrade to the "Eriogyna group" of the Saturnia genus. I will shortly post the updates to the Eriogyna file as well as to the Saturnia file.
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Patrick Guivarch of France has sent beautiful images of an Attacus hybrid and writes, "Please find hereunder some photos of the Attacus atlas (m) x Attacus caesar (f) hybrid we've all bred, Hervé Guyot, Robert Lemaitre and myself, Patrick Guivarch.
"I obtained this hybrid a first time in 2005, with only one female imago. Hervé Guyot also succeeded in 2006. All the pairings were manual and hatching rates were excellent in both cases. My friend Robert Lemaître was in charge to share the 300 eggs, with many other breeders (Robert Beck, Reinhold Höge, Steve Kohll, Oliver Kurz, Michel Lamour, Eric Legrand, Alan Marson, Jean-Pierre Pagnon, Angélo Santin, Jean-Claude Tavernier, Robert Zaun).
"First instars did well, but problems occured through L4, L5 and L6 instars (we can notice that there are six instars as we can observe in pure Attacus caesar species, unfortunately I don't have any photo of this last instar). Many breeders did not obtain any cocoon at all. All in all, we obtained less than a dozen cocoons with a majority of females. It is worth noting and a little strange that, on the opposite, we mainly obtained males from Attacus caesar x Attacus atlas hybridization.
"It is difficult to say if losses were due to the hybrid itself or were the consequence of a general problem we faced in France during year 2006, i.e. massive caterpillar deaths occuring during latest instars, and particulilarly among Saturniidae species.
"We still don't know the reason, and a study is in progress with my friends from the OPIE's (http://www.insectes.org/) « groupe élevage Ile de France". Did you meet the same problem in the US? Did other breeders report you the same difficulties? It would be interested to share our experiences.
"However, I believe (but this is my opinion) that the two species are not that close as we could expect: There was no problem in my breedings during 2005 and the result for this first hybridization has been very poor too.
"Moreover, Robert Zaun and I crossed two times a male of Attacus caesar x Attacus atlas with an Attacus caesar female. We both obtained eggs from these pairings but, unfortunately, only unfertilized ones, suggesting sterile hybrid male (to be confirmed with future hybridizations)."
Patrick's email is on his credits page, linked from the hybrid article.
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Jean-Louis Albert has sent recto and verso images of Athletes nyanzae taken, February 13, 2007, in Franceville, Gabon.
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Horst Kach has sent recto and verso images of Copaxa simson (male) from Pichincha Province, Ecuador. I am not aware of previous listings/publications from Ecuador for this species.
Horst also sends recto and verso images of male and female Eacles imperialis anchicayensis from Lita, Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador.
Beautiful images of live Eacles penelope, Eacles imperialis anchicayensis, Paradaemonia platydesmia, Titaea tamerlan nobilis and stunning male Eudaemonia semiramis andensis have been added to respective files and to the photography section.
On March 7, Horst sent a stunning image of a Leucanella flammans male. He has also sent one of a male Rachesa breteuili, the first image I have seen of a live moth of this genus and species, and an image of a live female Automeris phrynon, quite uncommon in Ecuador. Horst also sends images of third and fourth instar Periphoba nigra larvae.
Horst has also sent images of larvae and adults of the beautiful hybrid of Actias sinensis x Graellsia isabellae. I have posted the hybrid images in the hybrid section.
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Nicoline van Kappel has sent a beautiful image of a live Leucanella contempta windi male from Guatemala.
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Uwe Kauz is having early success with Eacles imperialis anchicayensis larvae on privet. He has sent images of first and second instar larvae.
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Carlos Mielke has sent a cute little cartoon, posted to fun section.
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Robert Lemaitre and Robert Beck have combined to send me images of a spread Nudaurelia emini male (Togo) as well as images of eggs and all five instars.
Robert has also sent images of eggs and all five instars of Nudaurelia dione from Togo. Larvae have been reared on Rhus (sumac).
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Otso Reunanen has recently sent images of Saturnia (Rinaca) naumanni female from Vietnam, Eacles canaima from Venezuela; Oxytenis modestia and Oxytenis naemia orecta from Costa Rica as well as some Orthogonioptilum from Cameroon.
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Preston Murphy has sent great images of live females of Antheraeopsis youngi, Antheraea helferi borneensis and Antheraea platessa, all from Malaysia. Identifications confirmed by Stefan Naumann. I will post them shortly.
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Hubert Mayer has sent images of spread specimens with complete collecting data: Athletes species, Automeris harrisorum, Automeris grammodes, Copaxa medea, Copaxa satellita, Cerodirphia radama, Leucanella aspera, Leucanella heisleri, Leucanella lama, Leucanella lynx, Leucanella viettei, Meroleuca verae, Neorcarnegia basirei, Schausiella carabaya, Rhodirphia carminata, Rachisa nisa, Pseudodirphia niceros, Pseudobunaea pallens, Pseudobunaea cleopatra, Pseudobunaea irius .
He has also sent some Sphingidae images with complete collecting data.
The collecting data is extremely useful for the current project of completing more refined checklists. Several ranges have been extended, especially for Pasco, Peru.
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I have recently created a map showing the adminsitrative districts of Malawi, Africa. If any of you have location data for specimens from Malawi,please sedn the data, and I will begin to create district checklists.
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Oz Rittner has sent stunning images of live Eacles imperialis opaca male, female and larva from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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Jean Michel Maes of Nicaragua has significant updates to the Saturniidae portion of his website which has moved to http://www.bio-nica.info/Ento/Lepido/saturniidae/SATURNIIDAE.htm.
I have updated the Nicaragua page and the individual species pages. The data will greatly assist the creation of Department checklists for Nicaragua.
Image of Leucanella acutissima larva posted.
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Jiri Zabokrtsky has sent me an image of a spread female Athletes gigas, and Jiri and Thierry Bouyer have indicated that the recto and verso images of another female from Zambia, previously displayed on that page, is actually Athletes semialba. I have posted the new image and made the correction.
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From Sebastian Brandner, tentatively confirmed by Thierry Bouyer, I have posted recto and verso images of Ludia orinoptena.
Foodplant lists have been added, courtesy of Dan Janzen, for the following species from Costa Rica: Arsenura batesii arcaei, Arsenura drucei, Paradirphia winifredae. Larval images have been added for Paradirphia winifredae.
I have also added larval images and foodplants for Asthenidia transversaria salax.
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Sphingidae Express
Ian Kitching writes, "Dear sphingidologists,
"The CATE Sphingidae website version 0.1 went online on Tuesday 6th February 2007 at www.cate-sphingidae.org. This home page explains the general aims and aspirations of this website and the CATE project. A more general explanation of the motivation for the CATE project (Creating a Taxonomic E-Science), not limited to just the sphingids, can be found at (http://www.cate-project.org/unitary_taxonomies.html).
"In this first release we have web pages for each genus and species. All species of Sphingidae recognized as currently valid in the literature are included in the site already, but as yet only the species of Xylophanes have any content. This content consists of full nomenclatural information (including synonyms and homonyms), diagnoses to aid identification, images of the adult moths (male/female, upperside/underside) of those species available in the collections of the NHM, and images of male and female genitalia of a selected number of species.
"This website is in active development and what you will see right
now is only the very first stage. However, we would very much like
to have your reactions, so please email admin@cate-sphingidae.org
with your comments. We’d particularly like you to tell us:
What you think of the whole idea
What data you think it is essential to include
What data you’d like to see on each species ‘home page’.
"We want members of the ‘Sphingid community’ to become involved. To do so you can use the e-mail address above. But there are other ways of communicating. There is a mailing list (http://forge.nesc.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/cate-sphingidae), where you can complete the online form to subscribe. And there is a wiki (http://wiki.nesc.ac.uk/read/cate?SphingidaeRevision), which is useful to exchange documents and post pictures. To access the wiki please email Ben Clark at admin@cate-sphingidae.org.
"Please feel free to send this message on to anyone else who you consider may be interested in contributing.
"We hope cate-sphingidae will become a resource that everyone interested in hawkmoths will use and contribute to. With your help we can make that happen."
Nicoline van Kappel has sent a beautiful image of a live Adhemarius dariensis male from Guatemala. Id has been confirmed by Ian Kitching, Manual Balcazar-Lara, Jean-Marie Cadiou and Jean Haxaire.
The specimen is very fresh and shows a forewing with a scalloped outer margin. Jean Haxaire indicates this species frequently has a scalloped outer margin. Previous images on display showed a smooth outer margin.
Jim Tuttle has identified a larva of Protambulyx strigilis, sent to me by Bill Rose of Lee County, Florida. It shows some variability from images previously posted.
Robert Westwood of Winnipeg, Manitoba, has sent some updates to the Manitoba Sphingidae checklist: strays Agrius cingulata and Eumorpha labruscae, and fairly common Sphinx canadensis.
Dirk Bayer reports lettered Sphinx have been on the wing since late February in Alabama.
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Catocala Capers
If any of you are interested in having your names, addresses and emails posted to a webpage of people interested in rearing/selling/trading worldwide Catocala species (eggs, pupae, adult specimens), I will host such a private page and only provide access to those whose names/addresses/emails are on it.
In return, I ask that you send electronic images for display on the internet. If you don't take pictures, that's okay!
Richard Westwood of Manitoba, Canada, has sent images of Catocala amestris from Winnipeg, Manitoba, showing forms abbreviatella and westcotti.
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Arctiidae Art
If any of you have keen interest in this family and are willing to create the files (you do the layout in html format) for a website on the Arctiidae, I will arrange for webspace to post and will post the images and text that are provided. You get the credit for the site. All images should be credited to the respective photographers.
I will not have time to create the html files, but if you send them to me I will upload them, and then provide the access URL.
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Caterpillars Too!, a North American butterfly website. This is also a private membership site, distinct from WLSS. Many WLSS members have also registered for this site.
I am currently working on Idaho and Quebec.
Rebekah Garris continues to build her collection of wildflower images. Of her most recent submissions, Rebekah writes, "There is one of a monarch on Ironweed, and one of just plain ironweed. Ironweed tends to attract every kind of butterfly imaginable, from skippers to swallowtails.
"I also sent three pictures of different kinds of hawkweed. Yellow (Kind-Devil), Mouse-Ear, and Orange, which is rather rare around here. All three of them are exceptional for skippers, blues and cabbage butterflies, especially in late May to early June.
"There is one of Lonicera sempervirens, also. This not only attracts butterflies, but hummingbird moths and hummingbirds."
Dirk Bayer reports buckeyes, cloudless sulphurs, sleepy oranges and black swallowtails on the wing in Alabama.
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