Rearing notes for our cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia) fourth instar larvae. Stock originated as eggs from New York, June 2016 ![]() July 11
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![]() 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.
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Rearing notes for our cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia) third instar larvae. Stock originated as eggs from New York, June 2016 ![]() July 2
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![]() 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. Rearing notes for our cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia) second instar larvae. Stock originated as eggs from New York, June 2016. ![]() June 25
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![]() 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. Rearing notes for our cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia) first instar larvae. Stock originated as eggs from New York, June 2016. ![]() June 19
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![]() 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. Hyalophora cecropia eggs from the first two pairings have begun to hatch. We discuss our thoughts on what host plants we are considering to use for this year's rearing. After two whole weeks, the eggs from the first two pairings (5/29) have finally begun to hatch. Nearly a hundred of the eggs from the larger of the two females and 20-30 from the smaller one hatched in the early morning. The hairy black larvae were full of energy and crawling around the petri for quite some time before we first saw them. Interestingly, it seems just from the eye that the larvae from the larger female are slightly larger than the one from the smaller female, and perhaps the eggs were slightly larger on average too. We have also noticed in the past that larger females not only laid more eggs, but had slightly larger ones as well (for some other Saturniids and Sphingids too). As always, choosing the host plant for these larvae has always required quite a lot of thought over the years. We tend to choose whatever is the most convenient/abundant or what seems to be a commonly used/preferred host. To summarize, the first two years in California we used a non-native plum (Prunus) and apple (Malus) because we didn’t really have much else in their non-native range, which worked pretty well. Last year, here in Ithaca, we used wild black cherry (Prunus serotina) and Norway maple (Acer platanoides, an invasive maple variety). Serotina worked very well, which is consistent with what a lot of people who have reared this species have reported, but was rather inconvenient for us to get. The platanoides was not nearly as good, which was surprising since maples are supposedly one of the most commonly used hosts in the northeast and are extremely abundant here, though this was a non-native variety. This year, we plan to stick with hosts that are abundant and close to where we live so we can sleeve them (that means no serotina). The platanoides didn’t work too well last year, but we aren’t ready to give up on maples yet, since we suspect the variety really matters. Boxelder maple (Acer negundo) is the other maple variety that is extremely abundant here, and is a native, much more vigorously growing tree. Vigorous plants typically make great hosts, and since it would be convenient for us to sleeve larvae on, we decided to give it a try. We kept the larvae from the two pairings separate in plastic boxes and gave each a cutting of boxelder. To our surprise, the larvae crawled from the petri dishes onto the cuttings all by themselves and began feeding almost immediately. Believe or not, this doesn't actually happen too often with Saturniid larvae we have reared in the past. They usually wander around restlessly for at least a few hours and can take up to a full day to initiate feeding. The fact that they were so receptive of the boxelder is definitely a really, really good sign (they certainly were not like this with the platanoides). Perhaps this is indeed one of the most commonly used hosts for this species here. By evening, the larvae had all settled comfortably onto the boxelder cutting and had formed loose aggregations. There was already an impressive amount feeding damage and frass in the container just from the past couple of hours and the larvae had already grown a bit. Boxelder may become our new favorite at this rate. We will probably keep them in boxes just for a little bit to get them started and will probably transfer them onto outdoor sleeves soon when the weather is better (it's been a rainy week here in Ithaca). ![]() 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. Rearing notes for our cecropia moths (Hyalophora cecropia). Stock originated as eggs from New York, June 2016. ![]() June 11
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![]() 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. Two of the three captive Hyalophora cecropia females we set outside paired with wild males last night. These are the first pairings of this year. On the third night since we started setting captive females outside to call in wild males, we finally got pairings with two of the three females. The two females were the larger of the three, one of which eclosed three days ago that failed to call in a male the past two nights, and the other of which that just eclosed yesterday. Both also happened to be in the wire cage with larger holes (1 square inch) that we switched to last night since we suspected the cage with smaller holes (1/2 square inch) that we used the past two nights was physically preventing males from copulating with the female. The female that failed to pair was the smallest of the three and was in the cage with smaller holes. This suggests that our suspicion was perhaps correct, though sample size is small and it could be a coincidence. Either way, though, we'd rather play it safe and use the one with larger holes from now on, even if there is a small risk smaller individuals could escape. The wild males in the pairings were still paired with the females long after the sun rose and remained coupled until dawn. Like we observed last year with the wild males called in, they are extremely large compared to our captive males and even a bit larger than the females. Alas, growth in the wild must be much superior to captive, crowded, conditions even when reared in sleeves. In addition, the males have darker, more contrasting colors, with a darker gray ground color, crisper white and red margins, and darker red body. This differs from our captive individuals (both male and female), which tend to have a lighter grey ground color that is infused with more white and yellow scales and have lighter red bodies. We noticed the same thing last year and weren't sure if it were genetic or environmental. We are starting to suspect it is more environmental at this point, since the males from last year and this year have been consistently this darker phenotype. Perhaps the temperature and humidity that the cocoons diapaused or developed under affected the coloration? Not sure if we would ever know for sure but it's an interesting to note. ![]() 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. Rearing notes for our cecropia moths (Hyalophora cecropia). Stock originated as eggs from New York, June 2016. ![]() May 28
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![]() 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. We have taken pupae of Papilio glaucus, Papilio rutulus, and Papilio zelicaon, and cocoons of Hyalophora cecropia and Callosamia promethea out of the refrigerator to break diapause as the growing season begins. Earlier in January of this year, we put all of our pupae from last summer's rearings in the refrigerator at 5° C for them to overwinter. Now that the weather is becoming consistently warm (20+ °C) and the leaves beginning, we decided to some of the species out to break diapause. The three swallowtail species, Papilio glaucus, Papilio rutulus, and Papilio zelicaon, we initially took out on 5/1 to let them acclimate to room temperature. All of the glaucus and rutulus pupae appeared to be alive and most of the zelicaon appeared to be alive. Then on 5/3, we took them to the climate chamber (27 °C, 75% humidity) to aid in breaking diapausing. Pupae from each species were hung upside down in three seperate mesh pop up cages for eclosion. We expect them to eclose relatively quickly within the next few weeks and intend on hand-pairing them to obtain eggs. The other two species taken out on 5/1 were cocoons of Hyalophora cecropia and Callosamia promethea. We assume most of the cecropia cocoons are alive just based on how they "feel" when rattled, though for sure a few must be dead based on a foul smell coming off of them; all four promethea cocoons are definitely alive. We placed the cocoons at the bottom of a mesh pop up cage on moist paper towel at room temperature. We expect these to eclose near the end of this month (in three to four weeks), when we assume the flight of the wild population of each species would normally begin based on reported sightings in New York and when we encountered wild individuals last year (wild males called in by captive females late May for cecropia and a wild cocoon that eclosed early May for promethea). We intend to set out females of these two species outside to call in wild males to obtain eggs for this year's generation. ![]() 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. Upon returning to Ithaca after Winter Break, we placed the pupae from last summer in the refrigerator to overwinter. After a chaotic week of flight delays due to snow storms on the East Coast, we have finally made our way from California back to Ithaca. Since a sustained period of cold is necessary for most diapausing pupae to break diapause in the spring, we placed two airtight plastic boxes full of pupae from our last summer's rearings into the refrigerator, set to 5° C. Ideally we would have done this much earlier (probably in October when it starts getting chilly outside), but since the dorms require us to unplug refrigerators over Winter Break, we decided to wait until after we came back. Hopefully, the 3-4 months in the refrigerator will be sufficient enough for the pupae to undergo a normal diapause (assuming we take them out in May). The species overwintering are as follows (locality/date stock originated): Papilio glaucus (New York 2018), Papilio rutulus (California 2017), Papilio zelicaon (California 2017), Hyalophora cecropia (New York 2016), Callosamia promethea (New York 2018), Antheraea polyphemus (New York 2018), Darapsa myron (New York 2018), Hemaris diffinis (New York 2018), and Paonias myops (New York 2018). Also included were our batch of northern walkingstick (Diapheromera femorata) eggs from last fall. We are unsure of the conditions required for these eggs to undergo normal diapause and break it, but assume it follows the same principle as lepidopteran pupae. Alas, the list of pupae is much shorter than we had hoped, since many of the species we reared last summer never entered diapaused and the stock was lost (Papilio troilus, Papilio cresphontes, Actias luna, Pachysphinx modesta, Eumorpha pandora, to name a few...). Nonetheless, we are grateful for the species that did make it and look forward to rearing them again this summer. ![]() 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. |
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 |