Well, it's been a few days since we have arrived in Ithaca and there are numerous rearing projects still in progress back home in Albany that we no longer have direct control of anymore. Fortunately, our mother has agreed to help take care of anything that are require immediate attention, at least for now. With that said, from now on we will periodically post updates on any significant events that take place in Albany as they occur and are reported to us. The first update is for Papilio rutulus. On the day that we left (August 16), there were still three stragglers left, including two that were unusually small and probably unhealthy. We had left the three together in a tub in darkness with heaps of willow (Salix) cuttings to ensure that they would not starve for the five days that nobody would be at home. At the time, we actually suspected that they would stop feeding before the five days, and we were correct; two of the three have already pupated into 1.08 and 1.45 g pupae and the last one is a prepupa. The 1.45 g one is quite surprising, placing fifth of 26 in weight, and was most definitely the one of the three that was not sickly. . . On the other hand, the 1.08 is third to last. The one thing to note, however, is that these weights were not necessarily taken right after pupation (well, within 24 hours), which was the procedure we used to collect all of the other data points. The second update is for the regals (Citheronia regalis). Before we left, we were hoping desperately for the things to pupate so that we could just see it once before the rare opportunity would be lost. Unfortunately, that never happened, even after five days of being in the prepupal stage inside the incubator. In the end, it is not unreasonable for earthen pupates, especially such massive ones as these, to take an absurdly long time to pupate, but of course it was still a major disappointment. At some point during our leave, five of them did finally pupate though at 6.6, 6.62, 7.0, 7.13, and 7.94 g (again, these weights are probably slightly less than they would have been if they were taken immediately after pupation). While not unimpressive relative to other species that we have reared, these weights are still somewhat disappointing for how large the caterpillars were. Based on old records, they roughly shrank to just above a third of their peak larval weight, which is a pretty steep drop compared to most other things. Although we have not received any pictures of them yet, our mother assures us that they do not suffer from any deformities, which is a great relief given how difficult it often is with earthen pupators. Lastly, we come to the various machaon swallowtails, which all decided to come at the worst possible time. . . In the days before we left, we had very hastily created some hybrid pairs of P. polyxenes asterius and P. zelicaon and left what we hoped were fertilized females outside in the cage to lay eggs. After five days, all but one of these females is still alive and, according to our mother, there are no fresh eggs. Right now, it looks like we have failed this time. But hopefully we will be able to try again, now that we have easy access to P. polyxenes asterius here in Ithaca! Update: The last rutulus pupated at 0.95 g. The collective average for the rearing is 1.258571429 (n = 27). ![]() 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 |