Saturnia (Rinaca) zuleika fifth instar, Yunnan, China,
courtesy of Alan Marson.
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WLSS 2014: First Place Photo, Larva
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Adetomeris erythrops male, Chile, courtesy of Jurgen Vanhoudt.
WLSS 2014: First Place Photo, Adult moth
Hi All,
Gary Saunders has recently advised me that Alan Marson is also struggling with his health. Alan has provided us with many beautiful images and new host plants over the years. Please also remember Alan in your prayers.
With sadness I pass on this note from Gary Saunders regarding Alan Marson: "I am very sorry to break the sad news, Alan passed away peacefully this Thursday gone (February 19). Marie and his son Lawrie were with him at the time."
Alan's image of a Saturnia (Rinaca) zuleika larva has been selected as the WLSS Larval Image for 2014 and will share a front page spot with Jurgen Vanhoudt's image of an Adetomeris erythrops male.
Saturnia (Rinaca) zuleika fifth instar, Yunnan, China,
courtesy of Alan Marson.
;
WLSS 2014: First Place Photo, Larva
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Adetomeris erythrops male, Chile, courtesy of Jurgen Vanhoudt.
WLSS 2014: First Place Photo, Adult moth
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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. It is taking me longer than I first expected and some family duties will take me away from the computer January 26-February 11.
I have also been busy with sales of remaining cocoons.
I have just returned home from a two week trip to New Jersey where my father, Don Oehlke, is not well. Many of you have done business with my father. Please remember him in your prayers.
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I also currently have an oversupply of cecropia and luna cocoons and some new Callosamia promethea cocoons as well as a good number of Antheraea polyphemus cocoons. Thus I am posting this notice, offering some nice discounts from now until all inventory is sold. The following prices will be in effect:
Saturniidae:
Actias luna $4.60/cocoon
Antheraea polyphemus $5.10/cocoon
Callosamia promethea $4.75/cocoon
Hyalophora cecropia $6.25/cocoon
Papilio glaucus (eastern Tiger Swallowtail) at $4.90.
The above items are only available in US as I am completely sold out in Canada until fall of 2015.
I will commit these items (short supply items) to those who respond first. Please specify species and quantities if you are interested.
Bill Oehlke
Shipping and handling on all orders within US will be $9.00 whether you order a single item or 100 items, etc.
If you wish to place an order, do not send payment yet, but please do send right away the following information in an email back to me:
1) Your complete shipping address
2) Species and quantities of each that you would like to receive
3) Your method of payment personal check (preferred) or paypal. With Paypal there is a paypal fee of 4% that would be added to your total price,
and that can increase the price rather dramatically if you place a large order. I can also accept international postal money orders or bank international
money orders in US funds, but please note they have to be international money orders.
Do not send any payment until I have confirmed your order. Hopefully I will be able to do that within a few days of receipt of your email to me, and I can let you know the total amount due at that time. On the Monday after receipt of payment your order wil be dispatched.
Bill Oehlke
Box 476
Montague, PE, C0A 1R0
Canada
Check with post office before you mail the payment to make sure you have correct postage. It might even be more than $1.15 by time you are ready to send it.
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Diego Poli and Simona Gosi have sent me beautiful images of all stages of Antherina suraka, which can be viewed via the link to the left or from the link on the suraka file; same for pernyi and luna.
Actias luna female, reared on Juglans regia, Canada,
courtesy of Diego Poli and Simona Gosi.
We have been having one snowstorm after another here in eastern Canada, and it has been brutally cold. It was very nice to receive this image (first North American Saturniidae submitted in 2015) of an Automeris io, form lilith, from southern Florida. One day earlier David sent me an image of a very fresh Protambulyx strigilis from the same area. Spring is coming, I hope!
Automeris io lilith female, Marco Island, Collier County, Florida,
March 3, 2015, courtesy of David Wright.
In the February newsletter, I had identified the following moth as a female Lobobunaea melanoneura. I now think it is more likely the more common Lobobunaea acetes. I do note however, the hindwing ocellus breaks the course of the pm line, and there seems to be very little rose-red scaling in the hindwing basal-median area. This one probably should be submitted for DNA analysis.
Lobobunaea melanoneura (more probably acetes) female, 127mm, Cameroon,
courtesy of Kelly Price.
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For the first time on WLSS a live Maltagorea dentata is depicted.
Maltagorea dentata male, Moramanga, Lakato forest, Madagascar,
1100m, courtesy of Patrick Basquin.
Maltagorea griveaudi male, Moramanga, Lakato forest, Madagascar,
1100m, courtesy of Patrick Basquin.
Maltagorea altivola male, Ambositra S P, Ambatofitorahana, Madagascar,
1700m, courtesy of Patrick Basquin.
Maltagorea altivola female, Ambositra S P, Ambatofitorahana, Madagascar,
1700m, courtesy of Patrick Basquin.
Maltagorea fusicolor female, Behenjy, Ambatolampy, Madagascar,
1370m, courtesy of Patrick Basquin.
I continue to work on ids for a number of images sent to me by Kelly Price.
For the next one I am undecided between Ludia orinoptena and Ludia obscura, but favour the latter.
Ludia obscura/orinoptena female, Cameroon,
courtesy of Kelly Price, tentative id by Bill Oehlke.
Hideshi Naka writes, "We revealed the female sex pheromones of 2 saturniids, Loepa sakaei & Rhodinia fugax.
The study has published in Journal of Chemical Ecology 41(1):
http://link.springer.com/journal/10886/41/1/page/1.
Moreover, our another paper, about the sex pheromone of diurnal halk moth, Hemaris affinis, has published in the same issue. The cover shot of this issue is a male Rhodinia fugax attracted to a pheromone lure. I wonder if you can introduce it to WLSS members."
Here is the abstract for the journal article.
"While 11 species in the family Saturniidae are found in Japan, no sex pheromones of the native species had been investigated previously. We collected larvae of Rhodinia fugax in Nagano and Tottori Prefecture, and of Loepa sakaei in Okinawa Prefecture, and extracted sex pheromones of these two species from virgin female moths. In gas chromatography-electroantennogram detection (GC-EAD) analyses, male antennae of each species responded to one component in the respective pheromone extracts of conspecific females. Chemical analyses of the extracts by GC/mass spectrometry revealed that the EAD-active compounds of R. fugax and L. sakaei were a hexadecadienal and a tetradecadienyl acetate, respectively. The two species belong to the subfamily Saturniinae, and the mass spectra of both were similar to that of the 6,11-hexadecadienyl acetate identified from Antheraea polyphemus, classified in the same subfamily, suggesting the same 6,11-dienyl structure for the C16 aldehyde and a 4,9-dienyl structure for the C14 acetate. Based on this assumption, four geometrical isomers of each dienyl compound were stereoselectively synthesized via acetylene intermediates, compared to the natural products, and tested in the field. Male catches confirmed the pheromone structures of the two Japanese saturniid species as (6E,11Z)-6,11-hexadecadienal for R. fugax and (4E,9Z)-4,9-tetradecadienyl acetate for L. sakaei. The compounds have a characteristic 1,6-dienyl motif common to the pheromones of Saturniinae species."
Congratulations to Hideshi.
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They can be reached via email to Diego Poli/Simona Gosi.
Diego and Simona have begun to send me many beautiful images. See the link from the Nudaurelia krucki page to visit nineteen photos from their rearing of this African species.
Jaroslav Sterba from the Czech Republic has had success rearing Archaeoattacus edwardsii larvae on Prunus laurocerasus. Eggs originated from an unspecified location. Perhaps when the adults eclose we will be able to determine if the larvae are of edwardsii or malayanus. Perhaps such determinations can only be made via DNA analysis. Below are the larval images.
Archaeoattacus edwardsii, reared on Prunus laurocerasus, courtesy of Jaroslav Sterba.
Archaeoattacus edwardsii, reared on Prunus laurocerasus, courtesy of Jaroslav Sterba.
Archaeoattacus edwardsii, reared on Prunus laurocerasus, courtesy of Jaroslav Sterba.
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Nigel Venters writes, "I did get some interesting information on Automeris oberthuri. In the six years where I live in Cordoba, I have only seen one very damaged male here where I live. However, I live on the eastern side of the Sierras Chicas, and I have made contact with a collector on the Western side of this mountain range, who regularly sets a light up at Capilla Del Monte, on the Western side of these mountains, (within Cordoba province). He showed me specimens of Automeris oberthuri that he regularly collected there, and always in February."
Nigel Venters has sent me nice images from Misiones, Argentina. I have placed recto and verso images of the following to respective files. It is especially nice to have these images of the undersides of the wings. Sometimes such a view can aid with identifications.
Gamelia catharina male (verso), 52-54mm, El Dorado, western Misiones, Argentina,
January 25, 2015, 228m, courtesy of Nigel Venters.
Arsenura armida male, 132mm, Campo Ramon, Misiones, Argentina,
January 23, 2015, 330m, courtesy of Nigel Venters.
Arsenura armida male (verso), 132mm, Campo Ramon, Misiones, Argentina,
January 23, 2015, 330m, courtesy of Nigel Venters.
Lonomia parobliqua female, 96mm, Campo Ramon, Misiones, Argentina,
January 23, 2015, 330m, courtesy of Nigel Venters,
tentative id and significant digital repair by Bill Oehlke.
Lonomia parobliqua female (verso), 96mm, Campo Ramon, Misiones, Argentina,
January 23, 2015, 330m, courtesy of Nigel Venters,
tentative id and significant digital repair by Bill Oehlke.
Automeris naranja male, 67mm, Eldorado, Misiones, Argentina,
January 25, 2015, 228m. courtesy of Nigel Venters.
Automeris naranja male (verso), 67mm, Eldorado, Misiones, Argentina,
January 25, 2015, 228m. courtesy of Nigel Venters.
Simona Gosi and Diego Poli have sent me a series of beautiful images of Nudaurelis krucki females, eggs, all instars and pupae. The livestock That Simona and Diego received is reported from Togo, but I think Togo is not part of the natural range of N. krucki. I could be mistaken. Simona and Diego reared healthy stock on Quercus (Oak), a new hostplant for this species. Wayne Whaley earlier reported that larvae would not accept the oak he offered, so maybe they are fussy eaters or a different oak species was offered.
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Sphingidae Express
Gregory Nielsen has sent me this very nice image of a fresh Hemeroplanes triptolemus from Meta, Colombia.
We're having a blizzard here on PEI, yesterday and today, so it is very nice to see some live lepidoptera from a warmer place.
Eumorpha anchemolus, Costa Mayo, Quintana roo, Mexico, February 15, 2015 (submission date, not sighting date),
courtesy of Mildred Brown.
Xylophanes lamontagnei male, 92mm,
Oxapampa, Pasco, Peru, courtesy of Vadim Kroutov.
Xylophanes lamontagnei female, 109mm,
Morona Santiago, Ecuador, courtesy of Vadim Kroutov.
Erinnyis guttularis male, Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic,
29mm, courtesy of Vadim Kroutov.
Erinnyis guttularis female, Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic,
33mm, courtesy of Vadim Kroutov.
For the first time on Sphingidae of the Americas a verso image of a male Manduca trimacula is displayed. Vadim has also sent a very nice recto image with wingspan.
Amphonyx mephisto female, 126mm, Sao Bento do Sul, Brazil,
courtesy of Vadim Kroutov.
Amphonyx mephisto female (verso), 126mm, Sao Bento do Sul, Brazil,
courtesy of Vadim Kroutov.
For the first time on Sphingidae of the Americas a verso image of a male Xylophanes ockendeni is displayed.
Xylophanes ockendeni male, verso, 72mm, Junin, Peru,
courtesy of Vadim Kroutov.
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Catocala Capers
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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.