Eacles imperialis male, Sussex County, New Jersey,
2013, courtesy of Joe Garris.
Hi All,
I may have some ios and promethea for Canadian distribution if all goes well. I am interested in purchasing quality livestock from other Canadian breeders at wholesale prices for redistribution.
Shipping of US cocoons to US destinations will begin in late October while I am visiting my parents and sisters in New Jersey. I will be making purchase from regular US suppliers in early to mid October. If you have quality cocoons available at wholesale prices, please send me an email.
I am also interested in making purchases of high quality livestock from Canadian members. Thus far I have harvested Anisota virginiensis, Dryocampa rubicunda pupae, and Sphingidae pupae of Pachysphinx modesta and Sphinx poecila. I have begun (mid August) to harvest, luna, polyphemus, cecropia and columbia pupae. As of September 2 all luna and polyphemus caterpillars have spun, and just about all cecropia and columbia larvae have spun, just a couple more stillfeeding. A. io larvae as of September 4, seem to need about a week or two more good weather to reach full size. Just about all C. promethea have spun.
Some Rosy Maples recently (early September) emerged indoors. It appears too late in season for another brood to get through. I have seen this before with Rosy Maples here on PEI. Perhaps the warmer temperatures inside the sleeves hastens development and throws them off.
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Battus philenor, the Pipevine Swallowtail, pupae (non-diapausing, to emerge within 1-3 weeks) are now available (July 7-August) at $5.50/pupa and $8.00 Priority hipping. With the extreme heat we have been having these should probably only be shipped within eastern United States.
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Non diapausing Antheraea polyphemus cocoons from Texas are anticipated to be ready for shipping, probably starting, August 20 or thereabouts. Some of these cocoons might overwinter, but the majority are expected to emerge in two to four weeks. sold out
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On September 4, 2013, Joe Garris writes, "Odd summer this year. I've collected and recorded Eacles imperialis on four different occasions here in Sussex County, NJ, and I had recorded/collected it one time last year. Dale Scweitzer indicated that E. imperialis was not historically found this far north in NJ (Sussex county) and mine were the first records he knew of."
Eacles imperialis male, Sussex County, New Jersey,
2013, courtesy of Joe Garris.
Changes in weather patterns and unusual warmth may be facilitating range expansions into more northerly locales, and may be affecting voltinism of some species.
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Robet Vauttoux sends images of a recent new hybrid: Actias sjoeqvisiti male, Siberia x Actias artemis female, Japan
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Alan Marson sends images and a foodplant (Alnus = Alder) for Saturnia (Rinaca) anna diversa larvae (instars 2-5 depicted on anna file). This moth is still often referred to as Caligula anna. Foodplant and larval images are firsts for WLSS.
Saturnia (Rinaca) anna diversa fifth instar on Alnus,
Yunnan, China, courtesy of Alan Marson.
Saturnia anna diversa cocoons, reared on Alnus,
Yunnan, China, courtesy of Alan Marson.
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I recently saw images of Arsenura sylla winbrechlini, male and female, on Thibaud Decaens website, and have created the following id plate for the Sylla Group:
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Arsenura sylla sylla | Although the four subspecies depicted in this table have slight character differences, I do not know how
consistent those characters would be in a large series from each respective range area. | 
Arsenura sylla niepelti |
Arsenura sylla hercules | Subspecies hercules (left) also has sub-crescentric fw cell mark and perhaps the least rounded fw apex. Hindwing projection suggest isosceles triangle in even taperings on both sides of projection.Subspecies winbrechlini (right) seems to have the most elongate forewings with a distinctly oval fw cell mark and markedly oblique outer margin. The lighter area along the costa has a slight orangey tint. | 
Arsenura sylla winbrechlini |
Arsenura sylla maranhensis | mfwl: 75-80mm; Maranhao, Brazil, 480m:
Subspecies maranhensis (left) is thus far the smallest subspecies in the group.
It appears the forewing apex is not at all produced. The fw outer margin is relatively straight without any concave section.
The hindwing tail is relatively short and thick. The forewing cell mark is a thick, black, oblong shape with a narrow, elongate and lighter, interior streak. |
Arsenura sylla Subgroup: thomsoni subspecies:
Arsenura thomsoni thomsoni | Nominate thomsoni (left) is very similar to A. sylla sylla but basic ground colour is much paler, hinting toward yellow or olive brown. Hw white axis: almost nonexistent. Fw subterminal white line almost straight, without strong outward projections.Subspecies lemairei (right), which may be elevated to full species status, has hinwings without smooth outer margins. | 
Arsenura thomsoni lemairei |
For those of you that have moths listed as Arsenura cymonia in your collections, please have a look at the plate and read the descriptions. If you think you now have something other than cymonia, please send images (recto and verso) and data. I will do my best to offer an opinion.
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Andrei Rosen has sent me an images of the seldom seen Attacus crameri. Andrei indicates he hopes to have a female available soon.
Attacus crameri male, Ceram,
March 2013, courtesy of Andrei Rosen.
For the first time on WLSS live male, female and final instar larvae of Automeris jupachacona are displayed on WLSS, courtesy of Bernhard Wenczel and Viktor Suter. Additional images are on the jupachacona file.
Automeris jupachacona male, Oxapampa, Pasco, or near Satipo, Junin, Peru,
2000m, courtesy of Bernhard Wenczel and Viktor Suter.
Jean Yves-Pascal has provided the following image with details about the Montreal Insect Show.
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Kirby Wolfe writes, "Our Giant Silkmoths book is finally being delivered from Amazon.com in the U.S. In Europe it has been selling very well and is being translated into German. It is now no.2 of Insect & Spider books for Amazon Canada, and it hasn't even been released there yet. Here's the URL for the U.S.: http://www.amazon.com/The-Giant-Silkmoths-Mimicry-Camouflage/dp/1906506256/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332781819&sr=1-1
"I imagine many of your members would be interested in this book, which is large coffee table format with over 100 color photos of live saturniids, and is very reasonably priced. The reviews in Great Britain, where it has been available since early November, have been filled with superlatives."
I (Bill Oehlke) have read some commentary on the new book, and it has all been very good. Check it out!.
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Sphingidae Express
I continue to get many Sphingidae images and sighting reports. I don't often gets submission of Paratrea plebeja:
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Catocala Capers
I have been receiving many Catocala images. Edna Woodward has sent me some from Oregon. I am pretty sure of the id of the following, but would like other opinions.
Catocala faustina cleopatra, Wolf Creek, Josephine County, Oregon,
September 11, 2013, courtesy of Edna Woodward, tentative id by Bill Oehlke
Marcie O'Connor from Wisconsin has also sent many beatiful images. It is a pleasure to receive all thes outstanding images.
Larry Gall writes, "Hi folks, now that the adult Catocala season is in full swing, I'm hoping some or all of you can offer a bit of collecting assistance. Before making that request, I wanted to also let you know (a number of you already know) that I asked Bob Borth and Hugo Kons to join me/Dave this spring as authors on the MONA Fascicle. We are working on an end-game plan, which will incorporate a lot of new information that Hugo and Bob have been generating, with submission of a manuscript in November 2014, aiming for a projected late 2015 publication date.
"Summer 2013 collecting -- this summer I would like to receive
(1) as many specimens of male Catocala neogama as you wish to collect, from anywhere, and
(2) as many batches of eggs from as many female Catocala neogama as you care to put up and babysit for egg laying, from anywhere.
The reason is that two species appear to be going under the name Catocala neogama throughout most of its geographic range, notably east of the Great
Plains where we have all largely taken Catocala neogama for granted as a single entity. We'd like to confirm the likelihood of two species from
rearings from known females next spring, and also want to redo the data that will be used to generate these species' MONA distribution maps based on male
records (the males are easier to separate).
"Also, the same request holds for specimens/eggs from Catocala praeclara and Catocala alabamae from anywhere north of the Gulf Coast, so that we can nail down the respective distributions of these with better precision. Specimens of any sex are fine.
"The specimens sent can be in any state of preparation, pinned or not, although field pinned specimens may be the fastest to work with at this end. I'm happy to provide hints on obtaining eggs, etc., and assist anyone with shipping expenses. As always, I am also happy to determine any/all Catocala you might wish to have determined. Please feel free to forward this email to any/all of your collecting friends, and happy hunting!"
Lawrence F. Gall, Ph.D.
Head, Computer Systems Office
Informatics Manager, Entomology
Executive Editor, Peabody Publications
Lepidoptera Section Editor, Zootaxa
Peabody Museum of Natural History
P.O. Box 208118, Yale University
New Haven, CT 06520-8118 USA
http://www.peabody.yale.edu
email: lawrence.gall@yale.edu
phone: 1-203-432-9892
FAX: 1-203-432-9816
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Please note: I reside in Canada at the following address and payment for Saturniidae livestock (eggs, cocoons, pupae) and/or sleeves must be sent to me only at this address:
Bill Oehlke
Box 476
155 Peardon Road
Montague, Prince Edward Island, C0A 1R0
Canada
Postage from USA to Canada is $1.10 (2013 rate) so please use that amount on your envelope with your payment.
If you are in US and order cocoons or pupae from me this fall or winter, you will probably see a New Jersey return address on the shipping box. Do not send payment to the New Jersey address; send it to name and address above please.
This website has been created and is maintained by Bill Oehlke without government or institutional financial assistance. All expenses, ie., text reference support material, webspace rental from Bizland and 1&1, computer repairs/replacements, backups systems, software for image adjustments (Adobe Photoshop; L-View), ftp software, anti-virus protection, scanner, etc. are my own. The one-time-life-time membership fee that is charged at the time of the registration covers most of those expenses.
I very much appreciate all the many images that have been sent to me, or of which I have been granted permission to copy and post from other websites. All images on this site remain the property of respective photographers.
If you would like to contribute to the maintenace of this website by sending a contribution to
Bill Oehlke
Box 476
155 Peardon Road
Montague, Prince Edward Island, C0A1R0
Canada
your donation would be much appreciated and would be used for
1) paying for webspace rental;
2) paying for computer maintenance and software upgrades;
3) purchases of additional text reference material (journals and books) in an effort to stay current with new species;
4) helping to pay my daughter's tuition (She has now completed her B.A. (two years ago) and B. Ed. (this spring) and is certified to teach).
I also hope to expand the North American Catocala site as well as the Sphingidae of the Americas site, to worldwide sites, and that will require additional funds for reference materials, etc. Both of those site are linked from your WLSS homepage.
If you are mailing a check from USA, please use $1.10 postage. Donations can also be made through Paypal via the button below.
Donations are not required to maintain your standing as a WLSS member, nor do they gain you any preferencial treatment with regard to livestock and/or supplies (sleeves), compared to other WLSS members. All WLSS members get first crack at my annual offerings and get an approximate discount of 10% as compared to non-members.
I do usually ask donors if they have any special requests for material on WLSS, and I try to accomodate when appropriate or within my ability to do so.