Leucanella flammans sixth instar, Lita, Esmeraldas, Ecuador, courtesy of Horst Kach.
Hi All,
I have completed the harvest of PEI cocoons and pupae for 2009 and had an outstanding year with Actias luna (very large cocoons and big numbers) and Antheraea polyphemus. I have smaller numbers of Hyalophora cecropia, Hyalophora columbia, Hyalophora kasloensis, Dryocampa rubicunda and Anisota virginiensis. I also have some Sphingidae pupae: Sphinx poecila, Sphinx kalmiae, Sphinx drupiferarum, Darapsa choerilus and Paonias excaecata. From some other Canadian breeders I expect to receive (not yet in) Automeris io, Callosamia promethea and Eacles immperialis pini. There is also the possibility that I will be able to obtain Lintneria eremitus (hermit sphinx) and Papilio polyxenes asterius (black swallowtail). Neither the eremitus nor the black swallowtails became available (October 16).
The species mentioned above are for sale only within Canada or overseas, not to US destinations.
The cocoons/pupae that my US shipping partner in New Hamsphire mails out to US customers will not be ready for mailing until at least late October. These will be cocoons and pupae that I purchase in bulk from various US breeders at wholesale prices. They are received in New Hamsphire where they are inspected and subsequently shipped from there to US and/or overseas destinations. The following are expected and would be available for shipping within the US or overseas, not to Canadian destinations: Actias luna, Antheraea polyphemus, Automeris io, Callosamia promethea (maybe not), Citheronia regalis (maybe not), Eacles imperialis, Hyalophora cecropia, Hyalophora euryalus, Samia cynthia.
There is also possibility that I will have Callosamia angulifera, Callosamia securifera and Hyalophora columbia gloveri for US/overseas sales.
Overwintering butterfly pupae that are expected in US for US and overseas sales include the following: Papilio polyxenes asterius (black swallowtail); Papilio (Pterourus) glaucus (eastern tiger swallowtail); Papilio (Pterourus) troilus (spicebush swallowtail); Eurytides marcellus (zebra swallowtail). There is also the possibility there will be some Heraclides cresphontes. (all confirmed as of october 16)
If you have quality overwintering US or Canadian livestock that you would like to sell in bulk at wholesale prices, please let me know. I usually have all the lunas and polyphemus (need polyphemus again this year)that I need, but am always looking for additional cecropia, and often run short of other species. I have just received report (October 16 that io and cynthia numbers will be low and that usual supplier of promethea does not have any available, so I am looking for cocoons of that species.
I am also interested in expanding the offerings. Any who had success with Arizona eggs of Antheraea oculea, Citheronia spendens sinaloensis, Rothschildia cincta, Eacles oslari, Eupackardia calleta, Hyalophora columbia gloveri, or other species, please let me know as I wish to purchase livestock.
I am also interested in bulk purchases of and/or trades for overwintering US sphingidae and butterfly pupae.
Please read this next section carefully because there are different prices for livestock and for shipping and handling based on 1) source of stock (Canadian or US), 2) your location, 3) discounts on large orders, 4) whether you are going to pay by personal check or use paypal (requires additional 4% transaction fee) and 5) whether or not GST applies. If you wish to order, please 1)send your complete shipping address by email, 2) specify quantities and 3) species desired, 4) indicate payment preference (best for me to receive personal checks, especially if from US) of personal check, Paypal, international postal money order in US funds. Please do not send any money until I have confirmed availability of your order. When you do sned money, please specify species and quanitites in a little with your payment.
Stock and destinations: Canadian livestock to Canadian or overseas destinations. Prices quoted are in Canadian dollars.
I must charge 5% on total of your order, including S & H and paypal transaction fee for all Canadian destinations. I do not have to charge this tax for overseas destinations.
Actias luna $4.20, discounted to $3.85 for orders of fifty or more, discounted to $3.50 for orders of 100 or more. Discounts on luna and polyphemus will probably only apply to
orders received before mid November or until large inventory is depleted.
Automeris io and Callosamia promethea, both at $4.20, no discounts; only expect about fifty of each total.
Dryocampa rubicunda and Anisota virginiensis (very low numbers) both at $3.00.
Hyalophora cecropia, Hyalophora columbia (columbia = probably already all spoken for now based on emails of last two weeks), Hyalophora kasloensis all at $6.20.
Eacles imperialis pini at $16.00/pair (probably low numbers). Papilio polyxenes asterius will depend on price I have to pay for them (might be able to get them, might not).
Sphingidae: drupiferarum and poecila (both in low numbers) at $5.50; eremitus, (if they become available) at $5.50; choerilus and excacata both at $3.50;
kalmiae just a few at $5.50.
Shipping rates to canada and overseas depend on size and weight of package. I will give you a quote when box is ready to be shipped.
Antheraea polyphemus $4.45, discounted to $4.15 for orders of fifty or more, discounted to $4.00 for orders of 100 or more.
Stock and destinations: US livestock to US or overseas destinations. Prices quoted in US dollars.
luna, io, promethea, cynthia all at $4.20
polyphemus at $4.50.
cecropia and euryalus (California and Oregon stock) at $6.20. Hyalophora columbia gloveri (maybe) at $6.20
Imperialis at $14.20 US/pair; regalis at $16.20 US/pair.
Butterflies: glaucus and troilus at $4.25/pupa; asterius and marcellus at $4.50/pupa; cresphontes at $5.50/pupa.
If I can get angulifera or securifera, they will probably be $6.70/cocoon.
Shipping and Handling to all US destinations is $8.00 whether you order one cocoon or one hundred cocoons. S & H to overseas destinations
depends on location, size of box (number of cocoons) and shipping method. I have had good success with packages sent to Europe over the years.
Material is declared as "scientific material" on outside of box, and inside the box we list species names and indicate "non-protected, non-endangered".
Overseas customers, must be aware, howerver, that all risk must be assumed by them. There is no refund ifsomething gets rejected or destoryed by customs.
There are now over 700 WLSS members so I usually do not email out "Mothly Newsletters" on a monthly basis. If additional items become available, they will be listed here so it is a good idea to check the newsletters periodically to see if there is anything new, of interest posted.
Please also help me with record keeping. Already this year I have received several emails asking me to either add or delete something from a previous request
(without the original request included in the email).
If you wish to revise an order, please send the complete revison (new request in total) so I don't have to hunt back through a series of emails to figure out
what you do or don't want. I appreciate your business, but the revisions can lead to errors and become a recording nightmare. Thanks.
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I am going to begin a section on Saturniidae parasites, parasitoids, and predators (all kinds: birds, lizards (reptiles), rodents, amphibians, mammals,
mollusks (pretty sure slugs
eat pupae), spiders, insects, microorganisms (viruses, fungi, bacteria) etc.). Any electronic images that you can send and experiences that you can relate
would be much appreciated. I will also try to find and post best remedies to problems created by these "pests" so anything you can share that might help others
would be appreciated. I will add to this section (in Bill's Articles) as pictures and info arrive.
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I still have some outdoor projects to complete before the snow flies: 1) putting shingles on one side of the house, 2) constructing 16' x 10' wood storage shed,
3) washing and drying all the sleeves used this summer. I am going to devote Monday mornings until 10:00 am to Catocala site updates;
Tuesday mornings will be for Sphingidae, Americas, and worldwide when I have time; Wednesdays for Saturniidae; Thursdays for service; Fridays for Arctiidae;
Saturdays for Caterpilars Too! and miscellaneous. Once I get the outdoor projects completed and the wood sheltered for the winter, I'll have more time for websites.
I'll try to answer all correspondence at night.
I am currently having trouble with my Hotmail email account so if you have been sending me emails to my hotmail account I haven't been able to access them.
Please try one of the following
oehlkew@islandtelecom.com
oehlkew@yahoo.com
bill.oehlke@gmail.com
billoehlke@s202901284.onlinehome.us
Leucanella flammans sixth instar, Lita, Esmeraldas, Ecuador, courtesy of Horst Kach.
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Alan Marson has sent beautiful images of live female Eupackardia calleta recto and verso, and he has sent images of fourth and fifth instars of Salassa mesosa.
After I do some cedar shingling today on side of house, I will post Alan's images and try to get to the other images that were sent in August or earlier in September.
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Congratulations to Andres Oscar Contreras Chialchia whose work with the species previously described as subspecies Rothschilida hesperus lutea has led to elevation to full species status as Rothschildia lutea in September 2009, published in Resolution # 70/09 and in Azariana, Volume I, Numero 6, 2009. The larvae are very different from those in the hesperus group.
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David Tilden of Northwest Territories, Canada, has recently sent me a confirmation of Hyalophora columbia gloveri from Trout Lake, NWT. David reports this is an extremely rare occurrence with only one other record from Hay River in 1904.
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Jeremy Laratro has sent a very beautiful image of a late season Callosamia promethea female. The moth did not emerge until October 12 from a summer 2008 cocoon.
Image posted in photography section and from lnk on promethea file.
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Robert Vuattoux has sent me an image of a pairing of an Epiphora bauhiniae male from Senegal, Africa, with a Hyalophora euryalus female from California. He was able to rear at least one larva through to cocoon stage and sends a photo of the very interesting final instar larva. I do not think there have been previous hybridizations between those two genera.
Due to similarity of the two genera and Bob's recent success, I suspect there will be additional successful crosses.
I wil be offering euryalus cocoons from Oregon and California beginning in late October.
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Non-member Bob Barber from Otero County, New Mexico, has sent beautiful images of Syssphinx hubbardi and Hemileuca juno larvae from his yard in Dog Canyon. He has also sent images of Manduca rustica and Catocala aholibah larvae from the same area.
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Jean-Yves Malmasson of France has sent me a series of outstanding images from his rearings in France: Antheraea mylitta, Argema mimosae, Automeris hamata (first time live female recto and verso depicted on WLSS), Citheronia aroa, Citheronia regalis, more to come.
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Larry Valentine found several larva in Itanhandu, Minas Gerais, Brazil, last fall, and I was not able to identify all of them. He found larvae of the same species on April 10, 2009. On September 22, 2009, a female Automeris amoena amoena emerged from one of the cocoons. All are depicted via the link on the amoena amoena page.
Larry often finds larvae that we are unable to identify. Fortunately, in most cases he is able to rear them through and photograph the subsequent moths. Such is th ecase with Molippa sabina.
Lemaire indicates there has been a great deal of confusion in earlier publication plates and descriptions with regard to basina, simillima and tusina larvae. he does not figure a Molipa sabina larva in Hemileucinae 2002. I believe the larvae previously depicted on WLSS as sabina are actually basina.
I have posted recent pictures of male and female Molippa sabina, three larval forms/colours and cocoon sent by Larry from extreme southern Minas Gerais, Brazil, near borders with Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.
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Erythromeris saturnata on heather (Ericacae), Sogamoso, Boyaca, Colombia,
courtesy of Andrea Cuellar Criollo, via Thibaud Decaens.
Sphingidae Express
Large numbers of beautiful images of Sphingidae larvae have arrived from various states and I have been busy with identifications and creation of county by county pictoral checklists.
Edna Bottorff of Wolf Creek, Josephine county, southwestern Oregon observes: "I would say they (Eumoprha achemon) don't come to the lights all that well until I got the black light."
Some moth species definitely respond better to some wavelengths than they do to others. I often receive images of the Achemon Sphinx (Eumorpha achemon) larvae, but seldom receive images of the adult moths at lights. On the other hand, I receive many digital images of Pandorus Sphinx (Eumorpha pandorus) adults responding to normal house lights. Sargent observed similar differences in many Catocala species when comparing responses to either Mercury Vapour or black lights. He also observed that some Catocala species respond much better to bait than they do to any type of light.
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Arctiidae Art
Kirby Wolfe indicates he will be sending me many electronic images of Arctiidae from Costa Rica. I will shortly begin construction of a worldwide Arctiidae site. Those who wish to contribute images of adults and/or larvae or any other stages are welcome to do so. All images that I use remain the property of respective photographers.
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Catocala Capers
Scott Mescher from Indiana is helping greatly with Catocala data and images as is Tim Taylor from Saskatchewan. I am working on creating pictoral checklists for all states (more than 1/3 completed) and hope to have that part of the project posted by Christmas.
Tom Middagh has recently sent recto and verso images of Catocala whitneyi from Nobles County, Minnesota, and Catocala amestris from Clay County, South Dakota.
Aubrey Scott has sent many images from northern Georgia, and Edna Bottorff is still (October 4) seeing Catocala at her lights in southwestern Oregon.
Much is hapening with the Catocala pages, and I think with upcoming links from the Sphingidae pages I will be getting even more photograph submissions in future years.
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Caterpillars Too!, a North American butterfly website:
Sam Jaffe larvae and pupae images will be posted shortly.
Thumbnail pictoral checklists of both Sphingidae adults and larvae for respective counties will be posted via links from each personal homepage in Caterpillars Too! Thumbnail pictoral checklists from Catocala adults for respective states will be posted via similar links.
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A new Coleoptera (Beetles) page is being created.
This page will be resricted to those members of WLSS who have an interest in Coleoptera (Beetles) and who are willing to have their email addresses posted there for correspondence, limited to the Coleoptera family.
This list will not be available through any search engines and will not be linked by me from any of my websites. Instead, those members who register (no charge) will be directed to an unlisted URL.
Members whose names appear on this list have agreed to use the contact information solely for the purpose of furthering their interests in Coleoptera.
Members have also agreed that they will neither post this list/page nor divulge its contents nor share its contents with others.
To have your name and email contact information posted on the Coleoptera page, send email to Bill Oehlke, indicating you agree to terms above.
N.B. This is note a Coleoptera site, just a listing of contact info for WLSS members with an interest in Coleoptera.
Two new names have been added to the Coleoptera page as of January 16, 2009.
There are also quite a few members interested in Sphingidae, so I will post special Sphingidae page under same conditions. I am also considering an African Sphingidae section if there is sufficient interest and those who can supply high quality images.
A Catocala page will also be posted.
If you wish to have your name, location, interests and email posted on the Coleoptera, Sphingidae or Catocala contacts page, please let me know.
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