Hi All,
Happy Mothers' Day (a day late) to all who are mothers.
Happy Moth-ers' Day to the rest of you.
Please get your egg orders in soon if you have not already done so. We appear to be having an early spring.
I took some polyphemus, luna and cecropia out on May 8 and will take more out today May 11 and continue taking more out every other day (May 13, May 15 and some columbia) so I have eclosions throughout the natural flight season. Having thousands of larvae in different instars is much easier than trying to manage them all in fifth instar at same time. Also hope to go to Sheet Harbour and Lochaber Mines, Nova Scotia, to collect with Derek Bridgehouse in late June. The lunas are really big there.
Each summer I usually get a few requests to give tours of rearing operation, and I have already received a request for late July. This is a fun diversion for me, but I might have to put you to work if larvae need to be changed. I visited a butterfly house in New Glasgow, P.E.I., last week to offer some suggestions to owner Bruce MacNaughton.
I also anticipate bringing in shipments of dried specimens in envelopes or folded paper from Cameroon (Sud Province) and possibly (South West Province). Let me know if you are interested in a pricelist. Collecting data is expected to be included.
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I saw my first butterfly of the season, May 8, a cabbage white (second on May 13). It flew by while I was working on greenhouse and outdoor flight cages. The butterfly took time to nectar at a dandelion.
In the house my wife noticed a Canadian Tiger Swallowtail. It must have emerged from a chrysalis I set in a placstic tub that didn't get into cold storage. Hopefully the flight cages will make it easier to rear larger numbers of this beautiful species.
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Many people have already received first brood luna eggs from New Jersey. Some cecropia and promethea orders from further south have also gone out. Take advantage of the many special prices for orders received/prepaid prior to end of May. See April Newsletter. Now is also good time to order rearing sleeves as things will get quite hectic here in another month.
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Two Special requests:
1) Has anyone some tips on getting Graellsia isabellae to pair??
Jean Haxaire writes, "Graellsia isabellae are easy to pair by hand. You must do that around 9PM when the female attracts and when the male starts to fly. It could take 5 minutes, sometimes less. In a big cage, when you let the moth flying, they never pair according to many experiences."
2) With help from Thierry Bouyer and Philippe Darge, I have identified a series of Saturniidae from Franceville, Gabon. Jean-Louis Albert, who sent the electronic images, also has many images of Sphingidae, moths from other families, and butterflies that he has collected from the area. If there is anyone who is willing and able to help with those, please send me an email and I will post them in a series for you to peruse and determine. I am sure Jean-Louis would very much appreciate the assistance.
Jean Haxaire has graciously taken time to identify the Sphingidae which I posted to Sphingidae from Franceville, Gabon (available from Newsletter link on site if not from here.) I will post additional data, dates and wingspans, when I receive same from Jean Louis.
Jean Haxaire also sent me a copy of his publications which I will post shortly in the "Listings Section". It is really great to have someone take the time to assist. I am mindful of what Kirby Wolfe had to say about the late Claude Lemaire: "Claude was my guru, always encouraging and helpful, faithfully answering all my questions and identifying my specimens before there were up-to-date authoritative books available."
I try to assist those who ask for ids and have other questions and am very appreciative of those who take the time to help.
Philippe Darge has also sent me a list of his publications, also posted to Listings Section".
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Thierry Bouyer has sent me an extensive checklist for the Saturniidae of Gabon and I am making progress on provincial checklists for that country. Thierry and Philippe Darge have also been very helpful with identifications of a series of moths from Franceville, Gabon.
Thierry also indicates he will be sending checklists for Cameroon and Democratic Republic of the Congo. The DRC checklist has arrived and has been posted.
Thierry has also sent a checklist for Malawi and a checklist of the Dactylocera which I will post shortly.
I have used these checklists to create ones for the People's Republic of the Congo and also for Zambia. *******************************
Alan Marson has sent beautiful images of Actias maenas diana larvae. All five instars are now covered.
Alan has also sent images of live male and female Brahmaea christophi from his rearings on ash.
He is also rearing some Rhodinia tensingyatsoi from China, and sent images of different forms of third instar Rhodina fugax larvae.
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Bonnie Carruthers is delighted that her overwintered eggs of Hemileuca lucina have begun to hatch in New Hampshire.
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Andreas Riekert has sent me some beautiful images of spread Gynanisa species (jama and ata and nigra aberration) and I have been posting them to respective files.
I've added Livingstone Mountains, Mbizi Mountains, Dabaga Forest and Mpwapwa to Tanzania Regions Map.
Andreas has also sent a Rhodirphia carminata male, a pair of Nudaurelia wahlbergii callophthalma, a pair of Cerodirphia candida, a pair of Epiphora pelosoma, a pair of Micragone cana, a male Micragone nyasae, a pair of Caligula lindia and a very dark Cinabra hyperbius female.
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Jiri Zabokrtsky has sent me a link to the Natural History Museum data base at http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/perth/lepindex/index.dsml?UserID=&UserName, and I have been using information there to help with "ranges" of many African species. Some fo the info is outdated, but most is very useful.
Jiri also sent me a link which enabled me to obtain many images of rare African species, including Argema fournieri from Cameroon.
I have also started provincial checklists for Cameroon, Africa, and have added many towns to the Cameroon map.
Jiri also found a new website featuring moths and butterflies from Gabon. I was able to contact the photographer, Jean-Louis Albert and obtained permission to use images. Jean-Louis has also provided me with some data so I am creating provincial checklists for Gabon. Thanks to Philippe Darge and Thierry Bouyer for their help with some of the identifications.
Jiri has also directed me to a number of images of Bunaeopsis
which I hope to determine soon.
I have just posted an image of Arsenura batesii arcaei
from French Guiana, from new member Stephane Vassel.
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Dirk Bayer has sent me an image of first instar Callosamia securifera
larvae, bunched as in typical Callosamia fashion.
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Vernon L. Evans has sent a great series of images of larvae (instars 1-5)
and adults of Hemileuca annulata from Utah.
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Jim Tuttle has just sent me a beautiful image of an Opodiphthera
eucalypti larva, found near his home in Australia. Image posted
in Larval Images section.
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Dr. Wasil Khan of Jasper County, South Carolina, has given me permission
to display his beautiful images of Callosamia angulifera which
have come in to his lights April 19-22.
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Citheronia regalis are flying in northwestern Florida, courtesy of
Joel Szymczyk.
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Stefan Naumann has taken the time to go through the Samia files
and offers the following corrections:
These corrections are not to be interpreted
in any way as criticisms of those who supplied images.
It would be good, however, for the respective photographers to note
changes.
In some cases the photographers probably obtained misidentified stock;
in some cases I probably made the wrong determinations for them; in
some cases determinations were probably made prior to Peigler's and Naumann's definitive review,
A Revision of the Silkmoth Genus Samia, released in 2002.
Thanks goes out to Stefan for taking the time to go through the files.
I have moved the images to their new, corrected locations.
Stefan has also indicated he can help with images of at least half of
the Adafroptilum species, and he will also be sending
many images of species from Venezuela whose depictions are not yet on
WLSS.
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New member Horst Kach has sent me many images of Saturniidae
moths and larvae from eastern Ecuador and other parts of Ecuador.
I will list them in the June newsletter.
Quite a few species were not previously
depicted on WLSS. I hope to get to them this afternoon (May 15).
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Sphingidae Express
Eggs of the following species are expected this spring/summer.
Smerinthus cerisyi, Deidamia inscriptum, Pachysphinx modesta,
Paonias excaecata, Manduca quinquemaculata, Ceratomia amyntor,
Ceratomia undulosa, Sphinx kalmaie, Sphinx drupiferarum,
Sphinx chersis. All will be in range of $15.00-$16.00 U.S./dozen with addition
of $5.00-$6.00 for each additional dozen eggs. Price already includes
the shipping and handling. Get requests in early if you are intereted.
It is fun to watch the pupation process, and all will pupate without soil.
Jean Haxaire has sent me some beautiful images of
Amphion floridensis. A file is linked from
the Amphion floridensis page. Jean has also managed to get a
pairing in captivity in a small flight cage about 1.3 meters high.
He placed some cut lilacs in the cage and placed it outdoors in 23 C
weatrher in the shade. Pairing occured about 5:00pm. The females is
being hand fed a honey-water solution and is laying eggs.
Jean also identified an Isognathus scryon and an
Isognathus caricae larva from French Guiana. The scryon larva
had not previously been depicted.
Dale Smith sent me a very nice image of a male Amorpha
juglandis from Tarrant County in northeastern Texas.
Image is available from Amorpha juglandis file.
Dirk Bayer has been sending me sightings from
southern Alabama, and I was surprised by a sighting of
Deidamia inscriptum, April 20, from southern Ontario, Canada,
courtesy of Sherleen Smithson.
Joel Szmyczyk has sent me Saturniidae and Sphingidae sightings for
Jackson County, Florida. Sighting recording sheets are now available
online for Jackson County.
I've also uploaded recording sheets for Broome County and Monroe County,
New York, in response to data from Karl A. Wilson and Steve Daniel,
both of whom have recently seen
Sphecodina abbottii.
Chris Lee has sent images of Deidamia inscriptum from Guelph, Ontario.
Hyles lineata larvae have also been munching away at
people's plants, all over the South. I received an image from Argentina
this week.
Dr. Wasil Khan of Jasper County, South Carolina, has given me permission
to display his beautiful image of Specodina abbottii which
have come in to his lights April 22.
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At the request of some members I am posting a "BAD TRADERS"
report. It can be accessed from the main page of the WLSS.
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Please check the Members' Wish list periodically
and help when you can.
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Catocala Capers
I have been surprised by a number of recent (mid to late April)
images from southern states showing what I am pretty sure are
mature Catocala ilia larvae. The eggs of species in this genus
overwinter and probably hatch as early in the spring as there is warmth
and foliage.
Here in the North I usualy think of Catocala as fall species, but Dirk Bayer
from southwestern Alabama (Baldwin County) has sent me images of
C. similis and C. ilia which started flying in mid
April.
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Arctiidae Art
Unfortunately my Platarctia parthenos larvae
did not survive the winter. Hope to try them again if I
am lucky enough to capture another female.
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Caterpillars Too!
May 5, 2006: Joan Rickert reports: "Good News! I found 3 Great
Spangled Fritillary caterpillars by my wild violets! I noticed that
the edges of the leaves had been eaten so I picked up the curled
brown leaves around the plants and found the caterpillars on the
underside of the leaves. The largest is not quite a half inch and the
other two are a little smaller.
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"pryeri, photo by Shi-ichi Ohshima shows a typical
S. cynthia (also introduced to Japan),
cynthia female, photo by Mark Lasko, is a S. canningi,
cynthia walkeri male, photo of Wayne Hsu, is S. wangi
(from Taiwan),
cynthia walkeri female by Ken Thorne is a typical
S. luzonica from the Philippines,
mislabeled wangi male and female, photos by Eric van Schayck,
are S. cynthia.
Rest of determinations in Samia section are ok."
"I have been transplanting the wild violets from our lawn and roadside
the past few years just for this reason! I know they will get much
larger. I had Great Spangled Fritillary butterflies in my garden mid
to late summer almost every day last year.
"I will have to check the violet patches at my son's and sister's
homes.
"It is only 44 degrees here but I hope to see some butterflies today.
More moths are out now too."