Hyalophora cecropia pairing, Northville, Michigan,
June 17, 2015, courtesy of Kim Wismann.
Antheraea polyphemus pairing, Mayberry Park, Michigan,
May 18, 2015, courtesy of Kim Wismann.
Eacles pairing inside cage, courtesy of Kim Wismann.
Hi All,
I have been extremely busy with tending larvae and website moves and updates.
Most of my luna, columbia and cecropia have spun, and the modesta have pupated but I still have several hundred polyphemus larvae still feeding. I hope to be able to post pricelists for Canadian WLSS members near end of first full week in September. I will know then how many of each species I will have for sale within Canada.
I hope to be able to post a pricelist for USA stock near end of September or end of first full week in October, as many of the overwintering US species are still feeding. I won't knowe for sure what I will have until the harvest has been completed.
I am prepared to ship items overseas to WLSS members, but understanding has to be that if customs does not allow the parcel through there will be no refunds, and payment has to be made in advance. Overseas customers will be eligible for Canadian species and also USA species.
After WLSS members have had at least a one week chance to respond to pricelists, I will begin to offer livestock to non-members who pay approximately 10% more than members.
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Kim Wismann has sent some great photos of Saturniidae pairings in mating cages he has constructed.
Hyalophora cecropia pairing, Northville, Michigan,
June 17, 2015, courtesy of Kim Wismann.
Antheraea polyphemus pairing, Mayberry Park, Michigan,
May 18, 2015, courtesy of Kim Wismann.
Eacles pairing inside cage, courtesy of Kim Wismann.
I indicated I did not know if the Ceratocampinae could/would pair through the hardware cloth cages, and mentioned that I always introduce male Sphingidae and male Ceratocampinae to the females inside the cages to avoid potential problems with pairing through the hardware cloth. In most cases when I have a female Sphingidae that I want to pair, I wait up at night until males start flying around the cages and then capture a male and put him inside the cage with the female.
A cage where the male can enter on his own would also be suitable, but you do want to make it a bit tricky for the female to escape so a partial barrier is a good idea. Tethering is also a good way to get the Ceratocampinae to pair, but you do want to make sure you get to the couple in the morning before the birds find them.
Robert Vuattaux sends the following image of an Epiphora bauhiniae pairing. Often, under natural conditions, those species whose cocoons hang from host will have the female hang, inflate, call and pair while clinging to the cocoon she has vacated.
Epiphora bauhiniae pairing, August 3, 2015,
courtesy of Robert Vuattoux.
Congratulations and many thanks to Greg Bingaman for the following hybrid images:
Actias luna x Actias isis, male,
courtesy of Greg Bingaman
Actias luna x Actias isis, female,
courtesy of Greg Bingaman
Actias luna x Actias isis, fifth instar,
courtesy of Greg Bingaman
I am very much looking forward to seeing the hybrid moth from this pairing.
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Kelly Price has recently sent me some very nice images. Among them are Hyalophora leonis and what I believe is Rothschildia sandimasiana.
The Hyalophora specimen is very similar to Hyalophora columbia gloveri, but is supposedly distinguished from that species by genitalia and DNA barcoding. The Rothschildia specimen was sent to me as Rothschildia hesdimasiana, but it is a very good match for sandimasiana, and I think there may have been a mistake in the labelling of the image. As yet, I can find no report of a moth being described as R. hesdimasiana.
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Many thanks to Chris Conlan who provides images of final instars of Eacles imperialis quintanensis and extends their known range into southern Chiapas, Mexico,
Eacles imperialis quintanensis fifth instar, green form,
southern Chiapas, Mexico, courtesy of Chris Conlan
Eacles imperialis quintanensis fifth instar, black form,
southern Chiapas, Mexico, courtesy of Chris Conlan
My oldest daughter, Lindsay, has begun marketing ear rings featuring laminated moth wings, mostly of males hatched from my breeding stock or from wild males that have flown in to my caged female Saturniidae or Sphingidae. She is pictured below wearing Hyalophora columbia and Actia luna.
Lindsay Oehlke wearing Hyalophora columbia.
Lindsay Oehlke wearing Actias luna.
Lindsay also has some Costa Rican butterflies on display from the butterfly house at the Prince Edward Island Preserve Company. Wings are carefully separated from deceased specimens, laminated and cut out. Holes are punched-out in appropriate places in the laminating film so the wings are free swinging from their hooks. Single or double wings can be purchased for each ear in a set.
The jewellry is durable, quite eyecatching and has proven very popular at a recent showing in Charlottetown, PEI, Canada. Contact Lindsay directly via Lindsay Oehlke.
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Sphingidae Express
Vadim Kroutov sent me images of Manduca chinchilla from Chile. It is the first time this species is depicted on the Sphingidae of the Americas website, and I have added the listing to Peru, Chile and Bolivia checklists courtesy information supplied by Vadim. You can see the images via the following link:
Rather than displaying Catocala and Sphingidae images in the newsletters, I will mention the updates in the newsletters and you can see the images by coing to the appropriate links in the Catocala and Sphingidae directories.
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Catocala Capers
Sue Cloutier recently sent me a very nice image of Catocala palaeogama form phalanga from New Salem, Franklin County, Massachusetts. It shows some variation from the other image of form phalanga that I have on the palaeogama page. The picture was taken August 2, 2015.
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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 $1.20 (2015 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. (spring 2013) and is certified to teach)
and has been working full time as of September with contract until end of first semester in January.
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 $1.20 postage (2015 rate). 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 information on WLSS, and I try to accomodate when appropriate or within my ability to do so.