My experience with A. dubernardi is limited. Last year I bought some cocoons from Stratford Butterfly House in the UK in spring. They appeared to be healthy at the time but not one of them emerged and by September they were all dead.

Early this year I received a few eggs from a French contact. I put the larvae on a potted Pine indoors and initially they did well. However, as they got bigger they started to die one by one. I ended up with two beautiful full grown larvae - but then they too died just when they should have been spinning up.

Then in late August I received a few more eggs. Six hatched and I sleeved them outdoors on a large potted Pine. They grew steadily and healthily and by the time they were third instar I received a few more eggs. Again I put these in a sleeve outdoors.

By mid October, the first lot were 4th/5th instar and still doing well. The second lot were also doing well but were only going into third instar. I decided that the smaller ones couldn't possibly make it to full size before being killed by the frosts so I transferred them to a potted Pine indoors.

Within a few days they had started to die. Soon after all nine or so were dead. The larger ones outside were still fine. The first spun up at the beginning of November and another a few days later. By late November it was getting cold - down to about 4C overnight. Still the remaining four larvae were eating and growing. Another started to spin, but the cocoon was very flimsy.

I thought that the caterpillar would die as it didn't look healthy. Anyway, I brought it indoors and put it into an empty A. mittrei cocoon. I looked at it a couple of days ago expecting to throw out a dead caterpillar - but it had just pupated.

In the meantime, last week we had severe frosts and temperatures down to -4C, staying below zero all day. I think that the remaining larvae are dead - frozen on to the twigs. ....but I'd better check them again.

So A. dubernardi larvae like tough conditions. I'm hoping to get some more eggs next spring and this time I will rear them outdoors with enough time for them to grow and pupate before the winter sets in. I do have two cocoons and the pupa mentioned above. Hopefully they will emerge next spring.

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Many thanks to Alan for sharing his experience with his species. We can all learn from each others' experiences, and I invite others to share experiences, especially with the less commonly reared species.

Send writeups, please, to Bill Oehlke