Janice Stiefel

My first correspondence with Janice Stiefel occured in 2006. I was working on checklists for North American Catocala species, and an internet search resulted in me finding many great images with data credited to Janice.

She had been submitting images to Bug Guide, and her extensive collection of images with data was quite impressive. She also had many images of larvae, and I soon learned that she tried to rear, usually successfully, the caterpillars that she and her friends encountered.

Janice also was quite successful getting female moths to oviposit. She then frequently reared the subsequent larvae to adulthood and observed the entire developmental process. Below is an image of a Catocala relicta larva that Janice saved in egg stage from a female taken at lights on September 5, 2004. The eggs were overwintered in her fruit cellar and then hatchling larvae were reared to pupal stage the following spring on Balsam Poplar (Populus balsamifera).

Catocala relicta, Bailey's Harbor, Door County, Wisconsin,
June 11, 2005, courtesy of Janice Stiefel.

Janice described and pictured the flimsy cocoon and "bloom covered" pupa and also posted an image of the female that deposited the original eggs on September 5, 2004.

Valerie Passoa has provided a beautiful tribute to Janice.

I will be creating and dedicating a Sphingidae of Door County larval thumbnail checklist in honour of Janice.

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