We collected several Hemaris diffinis larvae on  honeysuckle (Lonicera sp.) and a Darapsa myron egg on grape (Vitis sp.) at Triphammer Falls.

Some photos of red admirals (Vanessa atalanta) that we often see around the Beebe Lake/Botanic Garden area.

It’s been a long time since we simply posted about some of the butterflies we see around town rather than rearing notes of species we rear. We used to do so quite frequently back in Albany, California and when we first moved to Ithaca, but we haven’t as of late. But, today there happened to be a red admiral (Vanessa atalanta) flying near the Beebe Lake/Botanic Garden area that landed enough times to get some decent photos of. We’ve seen these quite frequently this summer around this area, along with Polygonius species (interrogationis, common, or progne?), crescents, and skippers, though we haven't really gotten a chance to photograph these since they are so small and quick.

Winters in Ithaca feel like an eternity ​– over half the year feels too cold to enjoy the outdoors! That makes for a rather boring time since there are not many insects to catch and rear. But ever since May started (or perhaps even late April), the weather has dramatically improved every week and the plants and animals  really began to stir. Now that we are finally finished with our second academic school year, we've been hiking around the natural areas on campus once again. Here are some photos from some of our trips over the past week.

Though we haven't seen too many of the lepidopteran species we encountered last summer yet, we know they're already starting to fly and will likely be common within a few weeks. We look forward to when that times comes in June!

Today is the first day of Spring Break here at Cornell University, and the weather is getting better and better as we head into April and spring begins. We've probably seen the last of the frost until next winter, and lately there have been a sprinkle of decently warm days with a tease of sunshine. Since we finally have a break from school, we decided to take a hike around the natural areas on campus. We started at the Cascadilla Gorge Trail near our dorm and walked up to Central to get a view of libe slope. Then we crossed over to the Azalea Garden and made our way down to Beebe Lake. Though it doesn't look like many of the trees have begun to grow leaves yet, we can tell they are getting close based on the leaf buds coming in. 

Along the way, we also happened to come across some wildlife.... 

There were some Hymenopteran nests up high on the trees on Central Campus as well as the entrance of Beebe Lake. In addition, the fish at the Azalea Garden were surprisingly still doing very well after all these winter months. What was most interesting, however, was a Hyalophora cecropia cocoon fixed on a small tree at the entrance of Beebe right across the wild black cherry (Prunus serotina) tree we had sleeved some of our larvae last summer. Unfortunately, it was dead though, as there was a small hole on the side of it and it was clearly hollow when we felt it (not sure what killed it?). We assume it must have been an escapee from the larvae we sleeved last year, otherwise this would be the most bizarre coincidence to find a wild cocoon at this place. 

We found four sphinx species that specialize on Vitaceae for the first time today: Nessus sphinx (Amphion floridensis), lettered sphinx (Diadema inscriptum), Abbott's sphinx (Sphecodina abbottii), and the Virginia creeper sphinx (Darapsa myron).

Ever since we moved from California to Ithaca last fall, one of the first things we noticed about the landscape was the ridiculous abundance of wild growing grape (Vitis sp.) and Virginia creeper vines (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), something unique about the Eastern United States.  We knew at once that the following summer we should go looking for sphinx species that specialize on this vines (Vitaceae), since, frankly, there are a ton of them here - five to be exact. Namely, they are the Nessus sphinx (Amphion floridensis), lettered sphinx (Diadema inscriptum), Abbott's sphinx (Sphecodina abbottii), Virginia creeper sphinx (Darapsa myron), and Pandora sphinx (Eumorpha pandora). All are of the Macroglossinae subfamily of Sphingidae, a group with a large number of Vitaceae specializing species.

Ever since the weather got warm in May, we've been keeping a good eye on all the Vitaceae vines around here for a chance to find the larvae or eggs of one of these species. We weren't having much luck and were starting to give up hope lately, especially since the vines are so common that it makes it very difficult to check them all (eggs/larvae become "dilute" when the host is too abundant for a species). However, to our great surprise, today we didn't just find one, but four of the five sphinx species (all but Pandora, a late-season flier)! 

Nessus sphinx (Amphion floridensis):​
This was the first species we found. There were two second instars, both about the same size, at two different locations. One was on a large grape vine around the North Campus dorms and the other was on the creeper growing along a stone fence at the end of Beebe Lake adjacent to the Botanic Gardens (which was the locality we ended up finding all the other species as well). They are pale bluish green with two white stripes down the dorsal abdomen and a red and black horn. Overall a very ordinary, not very unique sphinx look, maybe because they are still in an early instar.

​Alan Liang​
​Alan Liang is a student at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York pursuing an undergraduate degree in entomology. He is co-owner and a main contributor of the Liang Insects blog and photographs.

For a few weeks now, we have been noticing the plants around here starting to make a move, such as the lengthening of the branch tips on trees. The weather, however, has only just made a permanent break. Now it seems like almost everything is fluorescing! 
​
Around our dorm:

Grassy area behind our dorm:

Beebe Lake and Mundy Wildflower Garden trail:

Unfortunately, we don't actually have much to rear at this time when the leaf quality of the plants are at their peak;the nitrogen to carbon ratio and nutrients of the new growth is unmatched and, depending on the plant, contains less or more toxins. We only took our pupae out of cold storage recently since it is best, of course, to only take pupae out when one is sure that the temperature is favorable and there will be leaves to feed. Presumably, this is how pupae would operate under natural conditions as well. 

It's mid October and the leaves here in Ithaca have been starting to change color and drop. As California natives, we had never known that fall could be so attractive and colorful, since back home, most trees were either evergreen or semi-evergreen, and any trees that did drop their leaves weren't very colorful.  Here in Ithaca, however, virtually all the trees here are deciduous besides the conifers, creating a beautiful display of colorful leaves. Walking down the Cornell campus, there was a huge spectrum of colors from green, yellow, orange, to red. The reflection of the trees in the water of Beebe Lake was spectacular. The crabapple trees also have a very ornamental appearance now that their leaves have fallen but their fruit have not. 

At this time of year, there doesn't seem to be many insects around anymore. All the more common ones (hymenopterans, dipterans, etc.) are still fairly common, but collecting has definitely become much harder even when the weather in warm and sunny. As far as leps, there aren't really any flying except cabbage whites, clouded and orange sulfurs, monarchs, and recently, painted ladies. There are still some small moths left as well. 

​Authors
Alan Liang

Rearing notes for our spicebush swallowtail (Papilio troilus) larvae originally found as larvae on spicebush (Lindera benzoin) at Mundy Wildflower Garden in Ithaca, New York. 

Rearing notes 8/27/17-9/7/17:

Authors
Brian Liang

After finding our first silver spotted skipper (Epargyreus clarus) larva yesterday, we went on another collecting trip and collected many more, among other lepidoptera.

Having figured out that the silver spotted sipper larvae can be found on the locust around here, we ventured out to Beebe Lake again today to find more. We made our way to the sunny part of the trail with locust that we were at yesterday and began searching for nests. At first we had trouble finding them, but eventually began finding a few. Soon after, we began to get good at spotting them and started finding them in large quantities - we had no idea they were so common!

Each plant had several larvae, usually of all different sizes, but mostly on the larger size (mostly fourth and fifth instars). The largest larvae we found we full grown fifth instars, which were absolutely enormous compared to other skipper larvae we have reared, weighing 1.3 g and over an inch long in length. The shelters of these giants were covered in silk, and practically looked like cocoons. We also found some quite small ones, one of which looked like a first instar with an empty egg shell nearby. The smaller larvae construct nests by cutting out a square of leaf (but not clipping it off completely) and folding it over themselves with a few thick strands of silk. We probably found about two dozen by the time we left the locust and moved on.

As we continued on the trail, we caught plenty of different interesting insects we had never seen at home (not that there really were any insects back there), mostly the common grasshoppers, some colorful beetles and true bugs, a few damselflies, and of course a storm of heminopterans at the flowers. As for lepidoptera, we mostly just saw cabbage whites and skippers (just like home), but as there was a lot of milkweed among the wildflowers, we did spot a full grown fifth instar. Unlike home where the only milkweed you ever see is the introduced tropical varieties (A. curassavica or tuberosa) in people's gardens, the milkweed here is native and common in natural areas. We've also noticed that monarchs here don't seem to be quite the same as the ones back home - there seems to be more variation in the size of the butterflies we've seen, and in general they seem smaller. The larva we found today looks a day or two from pupation and it is probably only two thirds the size of the ones back home (though if it is parasitized, that could explain it). 

Near the end of the trail, we spotted a large Arctiid larva crawling rapidly across the gravel. It looked about and inch and a half long and was covered in long orange hairs. We didn't know what species it was at first, but after collecting it and taking a closer look, it appeared to be the larva of the salt marsh moth (Estigmene acrea), a species we had encountered back home as well. It was most likely crawling rapidly along the ground in search of food (they're extremely polyphagous). 

After establishing the dominant local skippers (Hesperiidae) as the silver spotted skipper (Epargyreus clarus) and the least skipper (Ancyloxpha numitor), we stumbled across some of their immatures. 

​After just one week of arriving here in Ithaca, we've already seen so many silver spotted and least skippers along the trails of Beebe Lake and other natural areas. The silver spotted skipper feeds on locust (which is extremely abundant here) as a larva, so we figured that it'd be likely that we could find some on it. The least skipper, on the hand, is just another one of those countless grass skippers that feed on certain grasses. We see them flying around grass and we found a first instar on our first walk along Beebe. We never kept that one, but tried looking for them again.  

The collection took place this afternoon along Beebe, and was actually part of our lab for our entomology class, but since this is a personal blog, we'll try to keep collections for course work to a minimum in these posts, and mainly focus on just the things we catch and raise for fun. While hiking along the trail, we made our way to the sunny area that starts midway down where there is grass for the least skippers and isolated black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) ideal for finding larvae. We first went and took a look at the grass as there were least skippers flying about them as always. After a brief search, we couldn't spot any nests with larvae inside, but we did find a bright yellow egg.

Next, as we past the locust while busy collecting other specimen, we just so happened to spot a gorgeous yellow-green silver spotted skipper resting in its silk nest in the locust leaves! The larva was quite large and was probably fourth instar, and had the characteristic skipper appearance, with a very narrow "neck" (prothorax), and a large, round head with orange spots. The abdomen was very plump and striped in green. The nest was built like other skippers we have seen, with thick strands of silk holding the leaves together into a loose cocoon like structure. It reminds us of quite a bit of the Erynnis tristis larvae we reared last summer at home, they are not closely related. We collected the larva and brought it home to rear rather than kill for our entom class. Hopefully we'll find more of them later on our own time, as they should be very common based on the abundance of the adult butterflies. ​