Catocala pretiosa, Trinity River Refuge, Liberty County, Texas,
April 11, 2020, Stuart Marcos, id by Larry Gall.
Hi All,
i saw my first live butterfly of 2020 on PEI, April 25. It was flitting around in the late afternoon of a sunny day in low 50's F, probably between 10-12C, while I was outside doing some yard work. We still have some snowy patches in shady wooded areas, but most of the white stuff has succombed to the sun.
Don Severson sent me some very nice images of a fresh Deidamia inscriptum from Ettrick, Trempealeau, Wisconsin. Spring is here, even in Wisconsin!
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March 28, 2020: All Bill Oehlke related cocoons/pupae and eggs shipments within Canada and within USA have been suspended until spread of Corona virus
has been greatly reduced or eliminated. I am hoping we will be able to resume shipments in May, but everything depends upon the course of the virus. I hope to have a
more encouraging announcement to post around April 28, 2020. Things are looking better (hope so) for mid t late May shipping.
I do not want shippers or receivers making unnecessary trips to the post office; I do not want shipments to be delayed in transit; I want to remove the possibility of
virus contamination and spread via packaging or handling of eggs/pupae/cocoons.
Since I work with a number of shipping partners in Canada and in the United States,
I do expect we will have fresh eggs still available of most species listed into May, June and July and possibly even August.
Probably tomorrow, Monday, April 27, I will check with some of my potential egg shippers to see what the virus situtaion is in their respective areas, to see if they have been practices social distancing and mostly staying at home and to see if they feel comfortable shipping eggs at this time.
I personally do not wish them to jeopardize themselves by going to post office to ship, and I do not want to have customers going to post office or even receiving mail at home in high risk areas. Maybe we will resume egg shipments and possibly cocoon shipments (cecropia, nuttalli, still available) to an from certain areas. I will post in newsletters any changes in plans to ship.
I have checked with many of my shipping partners. There are a couple of them that will not be shipping eggs or cocoons because of
personal commitments to others things or because of a high concentration of virus in their area. There are several shipping partners, however, who are quite
comfortable with shipping. They are in low concentration virus areas, low population density areas and have been practicing social distancing and at least
semi isolation practices.
On May 4 we began shipping cecropia eggs from Illinois and overwintered cecropia cocoons from Pennsylvania. I do expect we will be
able to ship eggs of most species on the egg list, and we should shortly be able to start shipping spring reared luna cocoons from Alabama. These two species
would come as separate shipments with a separate S & H charge of $10.00 for each species. The cecropia are available at $7.00/cocoon with about 12-18 cocoons
left and the lunas will be $5.50/cocoon.
If you are going to order, please be sure to include your shipping address and species and quantities desired. Please also indicate when you would be able to begin
receiving eggs.
Paypal is preferred payment method for eggs and spring cocoons, and I would like to initiate payment requests from here. I trusted people to send me personal check
payments for sleeves, eggs and cocoons this past fall and very early spring, and right now I have about $300.00 in unpaid invoices from individuals who were
longtime customers in good standing.
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I have been creating new species files for the Citheronia species described in 2019 and am also updating some of the earlier years. I hope to have them all completed and posted by May 1.
I recently received a very nice image (now posted) of Eubergia caisa from Sao Roque de Minas, Minas Gerais, Brazil, courtesy of Marcos Cesar Campis. The moth has been confirmed as caisa by Carlos Mielke. Sao Roque is in a transistion zone between Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes, but it seems that the species Marcos is encountering are mostly cerrado species.
I am also upgrading the Minas Gerais Automeris Comparison Table to include images of females and larvae, as I have recently received larval images very close to naranja, bilinea tamphilus and nubila. I think they might be ovalina larvae as they aslo come from a biome transition area, Nova Lima, Minas Gerais.
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Andrew Spicer has sent images of all five instars of Athletes albicans from Obout, Central Cameroon. This is the first time I have seen larvae of this species. Images have been posted to the albicans file.
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We hope again to begin offering eggs in May from the southern states (see suspension note at top of page), and should be able to offer most of the regular Saturniidae species thoughout the spring and summer at various times. Yesterday, March 15, I received word that a wild male luna was flying in Alabama. Two shippers (Alabama and Florida) had luna eggs in March, but I told them we would wait until virus repeieve before shipping. I have no idea, however, if there will be disruptions to the mail service.
I will be instructing all my egg shippers that they should not be shipping eggs if they, or anyone else in the house, have/has any flu like symptoms.
I am looking for egg suppliers of Arizona and Texas and California species that are not on my usual list which is expected to include the following species: Actias luna; Antheraea polyphemus; Automeris io; Callosamia angulifera; Callosamia promethea; Citheronia regalis; Dryocampa rubicunda; Eacles imperialis; Hyalophora cecropia; Hyalophora columbia; Samia cynthia.
If you would like to become an egg shipper to US destinations, let me know and I will send you a copy of the working arrangements I have with other suppliers so you can decide whether you want to be involved.
There are some notes (below the pricelist, now updated for 2020) that might help you know when eggs of various species become available.
Here is the 2020 pricelist for eggs expected spring, summer, early fall of 2020. Do not send a payment until I have confirmed your order or have directed you to send the payment. Please be sure to provide the information requested below when sending an egg enquiry:
1) Complete name and shipping address
2) Species and quantities of each species that you desire
3) dates when you woud or would not be able to receive eggs
4) your intended method of payment: Personal check, cashier's check, international money order, Paypal. With paypal there will be an additional 7.0% fee
as that is how much Paypal deducts from the money that I receive and/or charges for a currency conversion. The egg prices below already include the shipping fee,
but they do not include the Paypal fee, so 7% will be added if you indicate you will be paying by Paypal.
Price list for USA customers, 2019. All prices quoted are in US dollars and already include the shipping fee, but do not include the Paypal fee
and/or currency conversion fee of 7.0%
Actias luna 9.00 + 5.50 = for 12 at $14.50; 24 at $20.00; 36 at $25.50; $5.00 for each additional dozen over 3 dozen
Antheraea polyphemus 9.00 + 5.50 = for 12 at $14.50; 24 at $20.00; 36 at $25.50; $5.00 for each additional dozen over 3 dozen
Automeris io $9.00 + 7.00 for 12 = $16.00; 24 at 23.00; 30.00; $6.00 for each additional dozen over 3 dozen
Callosamia angulifera $9.00 + 7.00 for 12 = $16.00; 24 at 23.00; 30.00; $6.00 for each additional dozen over 3 dozen
Callosamia securifera $10.00 + 8.00 for 12 = $18.00; 24 at 26.00; 34.00; $8.00 for each additional dozen over 3 dozen; very questionable
Callosamia promethea 9.00 + 5.50 = for 12 at $14.50; 24 at $20.00; 36 at $25.50; $5.00 for each additional dozen over 3 dozen
Citheronia regalis $9.00 + 7.00 for 12 = $16.00; 24 at 23.00; 30.00; $6.00 for each additional dozen over 3 dozen
Dryocampa rubicunda $9.00 + 7.00 for 12 = $16.00; 24 at 23.00; 30.00; $6.00 for each additional dozen over 3 dozen; very questionable
Eacles imperialis $9.00 + 7.00 for 12 = $16.00; 24 at 23.00; 30.00; $6.00 for each additional dozen over 3 dozen
Hyalophora cecropia $9.00 + 7.00 for 12 = $16.00; 24 at 23.00; 30.00; $6.00 for each additional dozen over 3 dozen; very questionable
Hyalophora columbia columbia $9.00 + 7.00 for 12 = $16.00; 24 at 23.00; 30.00; $6.00 for each additional dozen over 3 dozen; very questionable
Hyalophora columbia gloveri $9.00 + 7.00 for 12 = $16.00; 24 at 23.00; 30.00; $6.00 for each additional dozen over 3 dozen; very questionable
Samia cynthia 9.00 + 5.50 = for 12 at $14.50; 24 at $20.00; 36 at $25.50; $5.00 for each additional dozen over 3 dozen
I expect shipping dates for 2020 to be similar to what they were for 2018 and 2019, but no guarantees.
In 2018 we began shipping luna eggs on March 20 from Alabama (two orders). A second batch of luna egg orders was shipped
March 29 (four orders); more luna April 11, also from Alabama. Luna eggs shipped from North Carolina May 8; May 15; May 23-June 1 from Ohio. June 14 Ohio; June 16 Alabama
We shipped first generation luna cocoons from Alabama May 8-20, with more possible near end of May: many shipped late May to early June.
Antheraea polyphemus shipped from Alabama April 24; from North Carolina May 15; Ohio May 31-June 1; New York June 3, June 17; Ohio June 10
Automeris io from Virginia, June 6; Ohio June 12
Callosamia angulifera from Maryland; June 18
Callosamia promethea from Ohio, May 23; June 7; June 16
Callosamia securifera from Alabama, June 12
Citheronia regalis from Maryland, June 7-9; June 20; from Ohio late June early July
Eacles imperialis shipped from Alabama May 16; June 7; June 18; from Ohio late June, July
Hyalophora cecropia eggs are available from Alabama as of April 5; April 14; Ohio May 30.
Samia cynthia eggs are available from Alabama as of April 2.
Possibly we will have some Sphingidae eggs: Pachysphinx modesta and Smernthus cerisyi are the most likely, same price as lunas eggs.
Quite often during the summer months we have non-diapausing Actias luna and Antheraea polyphemus cocoons from the more southerly
states. We also often have pupae of Heraclides cresphontes, the giant swallowtail, for shiping during the summer. Send me an email if yo would like notifications on those.
I also intend to purchase large quantities of cocoons and pupae of local (North American) Saturniidae and possibly Sphingidae in the fall. If you would like to
become a supplier of fall livestock, please send me an email. oehlkew@islandtelecom.com
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Here is what is what was happening in US in spring-summer 2019. I expect similar shiping dates for 2020:
March 17: Actias luna pairings of reared females with wild fly-in males; Florida and Alabama; some eggs are being shipped March 18-19 to
southern states.
Luna pairing in Alabama March 29, eggs being shipped April 1, another pairing April 11, another pairing April 14,
a pairing May 26 from reared stock with wild male; a pairing May 29 from reared stock with fly-in male. Luna pairings in Alabama and Ohio June 3-5; Ohio June 13, 20;
Alabama June 4, 13, 15; Rhode Island, late July.
Wild polyphemus are flying in Comal County, Texas, March 23, 2019: we are shipping polyphemus eggs from Alabama April 12; again on April 20 again around May 10; May 15; from North Carolina May 21; from Ohio June 9, 16, 20; from Pennsylvania July- early August; from Illinois August 9-10
Callosamia promethea: June 25 Ohio; June 25 Michigan;
A wild female Hyalophora columbia gloveri is laying eggs in Arizona, April 1-2
Citheronia regalis eggs are being shipped from Alabama, April 16-17; from Ohio July 1, from Maryland, July
Hyalophora cecropia eggs are being shipped from North Carolina starting May 17-20; from Michigan June 21; 25; from Ohio June 25.
Automeris io eggs are being shipped from Alabama starting May 26; Ohio June 1; Alabama, June 26.
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Pachysphinx modesta: Ohio June 17.
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In Canada I am now sold out of all cocoons. I still have Pachysphinx modesta and Smerinthus cerisyi pupae at $5.00 plus shipping.
In the US, we still have very nice cecropia cocoons at $6.50 that can be direct shipped from Pennsylvania; unsexed Hemileuca nuttalli pupae that can be direct shipped from Colorado at $4.00/pupa; and cecropia; just two ios at $5.00 each and just four pairs of nuttalli at $9.00/pair that could be shipped by my regular shipping partner in Maine. Everything else is sold out in USA.
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Sphingidae Express
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Catocala Capers
Surprise! Surprise! Catocala are flying in early April in Texas this year after a relatively warm March. Marcos Stuart has sent me images from Trinity County in eastern Texas with Catocala clintoni and Catocala pretiosa showing up on the light sheet on April 11, 2020. Stuart indicates March 2020 has been relatively mild.
I have posted both images of very fresh moths to their respective pages, but could not resist posting the pretiosa here.
Larry Gall helped with the identification of the pretiosa and also indicated that "subspecies" texarkana is now a synonym of Catocala pretiosa.
Catocala pretiosa, Trinity River Refuge, Liberty County, Texas,
April 11, 2020, Stuart Marcos, id by Larry Gall.
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