Coloradia doris female, New Mexico, courtesy of Leroy Simon.
Hi All,
Yikes! I looked out the window about twenty minutes ago and we are having snow flurries on PEI. My heart goes out to all those who had to deal with the awful storms in the southeastern US and the fires and drought in the southwest.
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In Canada I am now sold out of all cocoons except for about forty Antheraea polyphemus available at $6.00 CDN plus postage plus HST or GST.
In the US, we still have a pretty good selection although cecropia are still in short supply and there will not be any butterflies this year.
Coloradia doris female, New Mexico, courtesy of Leroy Simon.
If any of you have quantities of good quality livestock that you would like to sell to me in bulk at wholesale prices, please let me know and I will add those species to the list.
I have just received word, October 4, that there was a complete failure with butterlies this year, so no swallowtails for fall-winter 2018-19.
Here is a complete pricelist of what is available in USA as of October 15, 2018.
Please send the following THREE items with your order:
1) Complete name and shipping address. Sometimes addresses change, and I do not always recognize a person just by their email address. I like to record everything in your order at one time without having to circle back for additional info.
2) Desired Species and quantities of each. Note there is one shipping and handling fee of $9.00 no matter how many items you order.
3) Let me know your desired payment method (all payments coming from US are to be in US dollars):
a) personal check; cashier's check; postal money order all made out and sent to
Bill Oehlke
Box 476
Montague, PE, C0A 1R0
Canada
b) Paypal to oehlkew@islandtelecom.com
Paying by paypal can be tricky because I am in USA and you are in Canada. Paypal will default to paying me in Canadian dollars unless you specify amount to
be sent in US dollars in right hand column of the paypal payment page. I do not want to be paid in Canadian dollars as I have to pay my US suppliers in US dollars.
With Paypal there is also a 4.5 Paypal transaction fee that would be added to your total cost.
Do not send any payments until I have confirmed your order and sent you the amount due. All prices below are in US dollars.
Saturniidae:
Actias luna 5.50
Agapema homgena 8.00
Antheraea polyphemus 5.50
Automeris io 6.00
Hyalophora cecropia 7.70; in very short supply this year.
Callosamia promethea 5.50
Citheronia regalis $26.00/trio (1 f + 2m) mixed from multiple sources
Coloradia doris $5.00/pupa
Eacles imperialis 17.00/pair; $26.00/trio (1 f + 2m) mixed from multiple sources
Samia cynthia 6.00
Sorry, no butterflies this year
Sphingidae: Now all sold out except for those which have been confirmed and will be shipped from Maine October 5-6.<
Pachysphinx modesta $10.00/pair; $14.00/trio (1 f + 2m)
Paonias myops $10.00/pair; $15.00/trio (2f + 1 m); only one pair left as of October 18.
Shipping from Maine will begin in early November after receipt of payment. The prices posted above for regalis and imerialis are the lowest they have been in many years. I am offering them at the lower prices because my suppliers had a good year and I want to help them move as much stock as possible. If numbers get low quickly, then I will probaby raise the prices on those two species.
Please also note, as I am getting older, I find it more taxing to try and do all the recording that is associated with egg orders. The orders come at a very busy time for me with my own rearing and there is much record keeping. There is a good chance I will not be offfering eggs next spring/summer. If you wish to rear reglis or imperials next year, you should purchase pupae this fall.
I still have to send out some invoices for eggs that were shipped months ago.
I might have Eupackardia calleta from Texas in a few more weeks. I have not set a price for them yet. I am also looking for more cecropia if you have any to offer in a bulk sale.
** Special Note: I am sorry for the quality of the Automeris io cocoons that were shipped last season. They were very small and I think many of them did not survive. If you ordered ios last year, please indicate the number that did not emerge and I will send free replacements this year with your new order for the same quantity of ios that did not emerge last year. **
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Although Eacles imperialis and Citheronia regalis larvae both excavate subterranean chambers in which to pupate under natural conditions, larvae of both species will readily pupate in small plastic tubs without any soil.
Eacles imperialis final instar, Lake County, Florida,
eating sweetgum, 2018, courtesy of Taylor Jones.
Here on PEI, I have had success rearing them on English oak. Larvae get quite chunky and will readily pupate in a tub like the one shown below which is larger than needed to get the larvae to pupate without soil, but it would also be suitable for hosting several mature, prepupal larvae at same time.
Eacles imperialis final instars, Maryland,
2018, courtesy of Ty Clark.
Bernhard Wenczel has recently sent me quite a few images. I have posted the Paradirphia fumosa sixth instar larval images, and am currently revising the Caio files and makeing a comparison table for the entire genus. Hope t ohave that done by end of September.
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I am also bogged down with a Syntherata comparison table for Papua New Guinea, but hope to devorte more time to that after all WLSS members are notified of what's available this year.
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I have almost completed a Saturniini comparison table for Panama, and, as soon as that is completed and posted, I will work on a similar table for Ceratocampinae from Panama (nearly done).
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Sphingidae Express
Chris Conlan writes from southern California: "Just thought I would report something rather interesting. I found several larvae of Cocytius antaeus feeding on the cherimoya trees in my backyard and in the yard of a friend who lives about 15 miles west of me. I also had reports of them from another friend last summer who lives several miles to the south but was never able to confirm with actual specimens. Looks like this species may be extending its range into southern California since many folks have backyard cherimoya trees. It also appears they are not really attracted to light as I run a MV light on my back deck most nights of the year and I have gotten many Mexican strays but never seen a Cocytius here until I found those larvae."
Cocytius antaeus final instar, Escondido, San Diego County, California,
on cherimoya, 2018, courtesy of Chris Conlan.
Catocala Capers
Larry Gall writes, "Hi folks, Catocala season is underway in the northern parts of the USA and Canada, and Bob, Hugo, and I want to engage you and your collecting buddies to be on the lookout for several species, for differing reasons:
1. minuta – females for eggs (from any locality)
2. neogama – females for eggs (from any locality)>br>
3. praeclara/alabamae – females for eggs (from any locality)
4. praeclara/alabamae – any specimens from last 10 years (from Midwest and southern Canada)
For minuta, we are after eggs (fertile OR infertile) to produce better SEM scanning electron micrographs than what we currently have. For neogama, we are after eggs (fertile) to do more rearings to continue testing whether there is potentially a second cryptic species involved.
For praeclara/alabamae, the situation is more interesting. These two species are easily separated on wing pattern and DNA profile over most of their geographic ranges. However, in the Midwest and southern Canada we are finding specimens that one might normally consider praeclara based on wing pattern that in fact have alabamae DNA profiles. We’re trying to delimit the geographic region for this, so we can figure out more precisely what is going on. To that end, we are looking for a leg (to extract DNA) from ANY specimen taken within the last 10 years from Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Ontario, western Pennsylvania, and western New York. Papered or field pinned material is fine, and although having the entire specimen would be best, if you want to retain the specimen then sending a good digital image with the leg is ok. If you have difficulty separating praeclara/alabamae, don’t worry, go ahead and send anything that look like these, regardless. And, like minuta and neogama, we are also looking for eggs (fertile) of praeclara/alabamae for rearing, as this would certainly also help with the above situation.
If Bob, Hugo, or I can reciprocate in any way, please let us know. Later this fall, as usual, I should have a list of species for which eggs will be available for rearing in spring 2019. Please pass this email along to other friends as well.
Happy catocalating!
Best,
Larry, Bob, Hugo
Lawrence F. Gall, Ph.D.
Head, Computer Systems Office &
Entomology Collections Manager
Peabody Museum of Natural History
Yale University, P. O. Box 208118
New Haven, CT 06520-8118
P: 1-203-432-9892
F: 1-203-432-9816
http://www.peabody.yale.edu
Courier Deliveries:
170 Whitney Avenue
New Haven, CT 06511
lawrence.gall@yale.edu
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