We have returned to Albany, California from Ithaca, New York as per Cornell University's winter closing, giving us a chance to check on our overwintering pupae. When we first decided to purchase the stock as eggs online from a pet store in June, it was mainly just for the sake of seeing one representative of the Sphinginae and because the species is exceptionally easy to rear, grows fast, and performs well on cultivated tomato (Solanum) which we happened to have. There was no serious obligation to continue breeding them once we had seen them out through one life cycle since the species, however interesting, is so easily obtainable at any time and thus readily disposable. With this in mind, it would have made a lot of sense to force the larvae that we reared over the summer to diapause as pupae if we had known that we would never see them emerge anyway, after leaving to Ithaca, New York in August. We would miss out on perhaps the most important aspect of rearing this species through, which was to gain insight on how to care for the adults and experience on how to breed them--knowledge that may be useful in the future or to other, similar species. Fortunately, when the moths did emerge in September while we were away, our mother was able to try her hand at it and was able to successfully breed them as described in this old post. The moths that were not used for breeding were pinned (unprofessionally) so that we could view them upon our return. A few of these pinned moths are shown below. At that point, we could have pulled the plug and thrown away the eggs, but because the tomato plants were still heavily leaved, we decided to give our mother the heads up for continuing the line. For someone who has no experience with rearing insects at all, she did an okay job, although she did report at some point that a bacterial infection killed a number of them off near the end. Fifteen pupae made it, which should be enough to continue the line some time in the future, which should be possible since these are diapausing. Although they are diapausing, these pupae squirm intensely when making contact with them! ![]() Authors Brian Liang
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Timeline 2017–present
Ithaca, New York This timeline is a series of daily posts recording our observations and experiences with various insects (primarily Lepidoptera) around the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, New York, starting from the time we moved here in 2017. As this is a personal blog, we try to keep collections/rearings for university research and course work to a minimum, and mainly focus on just the species we catch and raise for our own fun and interest. Posts prior to this time can be viewed at Timeline 2012-2017: Albany, California, though there is occasionally some crossover when we have returned home during breaks or reared stock derived from home (see Albany, California Updates). Archives (232)
July 2020 (1) August 2019 (2) July 2019 (35) June 2019 (46) May 2019 (20) March 2019 (1) January 2019 (1) November 2018* October 2018* September 2018 (1)* August 2018 (9)* July 2018 (11)* June 2018 (22*) May 2018 (18)* April 2018 (2)* January 2018 (6) December 2017 (5) November 2017 (1) October 2017 (5) September 2017 (26) August 2017 (19) *Currently, a significant portion of 2018 posts are missing. The notes/photos for this time period are saved on our personal files but the posts were never built due to a busy schedule that year. We are still actively building these posts when we have the time. Authors
![]() ![]() Full Species List
(Alphabetical by scientific name) Note: - Not every species we encounter is necessarily presented on this site, rather a selection of those that were of particular interest to us and that we felt were worth documenting. - We can't guarantee that all species have been identified accurately, particularly taxa we are not as familiar with. Lepidoptera Actias luna Agraulis vanillae Allancastria cerisyi Amphion floridensis Ancyloxypha numintor Antheraea polyphemus Battus philenor hirsuta Callosamia promethea Colias eurytheme Citheronia regalis Cupido comyntas Danaus plexippus Darapsa myron Diadema inscriptum Epargyreus clarus Erynnis baptisiae Estigmene acrea Euchaetes egle Eumorpha pandorus Hemaris diffinis Hyalophora cecropia Limenitis archippus Liminitis arthemis arthemis Limenitis arthemis astyanax Manduca sexta Orgyia leucostigma Pachysphinx modesta Paonias myops Papilio cresphontes Papilio eurymedon Papilio glaucus Papilio polyxenes asterius Papilio rutulus Papilio troilus Papilio zelicaon Pyrgus communis Samia ricini Smerinthus ophthalmica Speyeria cybele Sphecodina abbottii Vanessa atalanta Vanessa cardui Vanessa virginiensis Lepidoptera Hybrids Papilio polyxenes asterius × Papilio zelicaon Orthoptera Conocephalus sp. Dissosteira carolina Melanoplus femurrubrum Neoconocephalus ensiger Neoxabea bipunctata Phasmatodea Carausius morosus Diapheromera femorata Mantodea Mantis religiosa Albany, California Updates |