Hi All,
A long-time friend of my father is looking for eggs of Antheraea mylitta = Antheraea paphia from India. Please let me know if you are aware of any sources.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Theron Morgan-Brown has recently sent me, from the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania, images of the seldom offered Antistathmoptera daltonae and also of what I am pretty sure is Nudaurelia or Gonimbrasia anthinoides. Many thanks to those who helped with identifications.
Theron has a butterfly farm and may consider rearing some of the local Saturniidae. He might need some encouragement and suggestions.
His site is at
www.amanibutterflyproject.org.
His email is kimbiaje@yahoo.com
Checkout the new images in Gonimbrasia and Antistathmoptera pages.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
John V. Irion writes:
"Bill,
I have eggs of a very large lasiocampinae called Dendrolimus griesea,
from Thailand's mountain region. If you or anyone is interested, I'd
sell for $5 a dozen + shipping." John's email is mrjvi@adelphia.net
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I have begun taking cocoons out of cold storage around May 13, but only in small numbers (two polyphmemus) until at least middle of May. Late May and early June nights are often too cold (below 46 F) for Saturniidae males to be flying here on Prince Edward Island. Will try to do some postings in the diary to let you know what is happening here.
Interesting picture of an aberrant Actias luna male (New Jersey where things are warmer) in the photography section. Images supplied by my father, Don Oehlke, and my sister, Loretta Calvet.
I have posted a new article on mating cages in Bill's Articles section.
Kathleen Hawkins has sent me a nice article she wrote for Washtenaw County Master Gardener Newsletter. Links in the Members' Articles section and in the Publications/Listings section.
There is a great interest in Europe for eggs/cocoons of western and southwestern U.S. Saturniidae species. I am quite willing to post these for you in eggs available section. Lots of people are looking for Hyalophora euryalus, H. gloveri and the Saturnia (Calosaturnia) species from California. I think the Hemileuca and southwestern Automeris species would also be quite popular.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Teemu Klemetti has sent me some updates to the Malaysia checklist.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jane Dillonaire has a relatively new website featuring moths and butterflies in display cases. Visit http://users.rcn.com/jdillonaire/
*********FLIGHT TIMES********
Lynda McGinnis (Missouri) reports wild specimens:
Actias luna, April 21; Antheraea polyphemus, April 22;
Paonias excaecatus, April 22; Sphecodina abbotti, April 16; Deidamia inscriptum, April 22, 2003; Erinnyis obscura, April 28, 2003 very early.
Please send flight times for Saturniidae, Sphingidae and Catocala throughout the season. Info will be added to the data base for each state. Many thanks to those who have been sending data.
*********KIRBY WOLFE*********
Kirby has recently sent me beautiful images of a female cecropia and fifth instar larva, posted in Kirby's Section. Also additional cecropia images and Leucanella lynx female and larva, South American Andes and Rothschildia erycina nigrescens male and larva, Costa Rica to Ecuador.
*********Bernhard Wenczel**********
Bernhard Wenczel has sent me some images of new species, with more images to come. Pictures wil be published after papers are published.
***************Coming for Christmas!***************
Christmas of 2003 is a long way off but I have set it as a goal for first release of cd of WLSS. I did a "cd burn" from my home backup files in early March and it turned out beautiful. Images and pages load up instantaneously!
I must respect the promises made to many photographers who have sent me high resolution images; I will only release those images at resolution of 72 as per display on internet site. It is going to take quite a while to resize the many images all into one directory file so that I can do a "burn". I expect the price of the cd will be $15.00 - $25.00 U.S. for members and will only be available to members.
********COUNTRY BY COUNTRY CHECKLISTS********
I'm now working on South and Central American checklists.
********County By County Checklists: United States********
I'm working now on county by county checklists. The membership club has a large number of collectors from across North America who should be able to provide interesting and useful data as to what flies where and when. Please indicate county when sending data.
If you have friends who would like to help,their data is very much welcomed. Vouchered specimens are not necessary.
Lists with county maps are up for Maine, Vermont, New hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Florida and more. Many thanks to those who have sent the requested information.
********Eggs and Sleeves********
Now is the time to submit your egg and sleeve orders if you have not already done so. Eggs will be shipped on first-paid-first-served basis until supplies run out.
********************************
Membership access is at
http://www.insectcompany.com/silkmoth/kurthi.htm
No password or login is necessary.
************Saturniidae Books********
There is a new link on main page to Erich Bauer's site. I have just received my three volumes of Lemaire's Hemileucinae, 2002, which is a tremendous publication going far beyond the scope of the WLSS. Check out Erich's book listings.
*************************************
I would also ask that you encourage other Saturniidae enthusiasts to visit the introduction to the WORLD'S LARGEST SATURNIIDAE SITE at http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/indexos.htm
The site will continue to grow and I believe there is nothing comparable to it on the internet.
Click on reload or restore if it doesn't load up first time.
Thanks again to Clive Pratt of the Insect Company for hosting the site. Clive offers dried specimens of any insects and has an extensive listing of Saturniidae.
********NEWSLETTERS:***********
Membership continues to grow and I now archive all editions of the "Mothly Newsletter" on site. That may provide an interesting historical overview of the site's development and will allow new members to "catch up" on things they might have missed.
I also found a few of the older ones from 2002 and posted those as well.
*********SPECIAL REQUESTS*********
Save your empty cocoons for Carol Neeves. She works with the silk and would like all the empties you can send her. Carol has just set me a write up with pictures to show what she does with the silk (now posted in Members' Articles section).
Neeves, Carol, 1609 Ponderosa Drive, Sioux Falls, South Dakota 57103
CANeeves@aol.com
Janet Hightower is also looking for empty cocoons. She is doing a project on making rattles out of cocoons, and promises us some images and an article after she makes some noisemakers.
Janet Hightower, 1319 Ahlrich Avenue, Encinitas, California 92024 janet@scripps.edu
Return to Mothly Newsletter Index
Goto Main Index
************North American Butterflies*************
I've begun work on a North American Butterflies site and am intereted in obtaining high quality jpg images of butterlies, larvae (all stages), eggs and pupae. Leroy Simon has indicated he will be sending me many slides to scan. (Leroy has sent me close to 300 slides).
Included in the first batch of slides that Leroy sent me are some Catocala images from Florida. Vernon Brou helped with identifications of alabamae, muliercula, connubialis, umbrosa and orba. I hope I got the other ones right: amestris, connubialis, micronympha and ultronia. They are all on display on the Catocala website, accessed from main menu.
************Out of Africa***************************
Nobby J. Coreiro has given me permission to use his image of Antistathmoptera daltonae from the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania-- very interesting moth, more images may be coming soon. See the opening paragraph. They came! Wow!
Sorry if I missed anyone.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Pierre le Roux writes, "I'm working on a project to survey the area I'm in (Levubu, South Africa) for moths and butterflies. So far, I've recently learnt that McGuire Institute and National Geographic might be able to assist with funding. If you know of any other institutions or private individuals that will provide funding for such a venture, please let me know. We will be undertaking trips with enthusiasts to areas that are being devastated, to estimate what can be done and at what cost, and also collect specimens. Obviously, if we find females, we would like to try and breed some of the stuff! Cost would run to about $60 per person per day, plus travel costs to South Africa. Trips should last around 10-12 days, camping most of the time.
Part of the project entails a database program with photos of life-histories. The files presently occupy 3 CD's and sell for around $120 including postage and packaging. It is very useful for keeping record of your own collection, and can accommodate other photos if arranged with the program originator. Presently it has most of the Southern Neotropical butterflies of Africa, and about 50% of the Saturniidae & Sphingidae.
Regards,
Pierre le Roux pp
African Novel Resources
Box 8, Levubu
0929 South Africa
arbor@mweb.co.za