The first three of our western tiger swallowtails (Papilio rutulus) pupae, all males, have eclosed. Stock originated from a single pairing between reared female and wild male in Albany, California, Summer 2017. 

After a long wait, the first three of our rutulus (Papilio rutulus) pupae have eclosed, one after another, starting from early in the morning (7-8 AM) to mid-morning, which is typical for this species. (Technically, one of them, a male, already eclosed during the shipment of the pupae and a female eclosed in Albany before the pupae were sent.) All three are male, which is not too surprising, but may be problematic for hand-pairing considering it may be unlikely that three females will eclose in time, later. 

The first male that eclosed is the largest, perhaps coming out of one of the largest male pupae that we have. It is a deep shade of yellow, with blue and yellow bands along the wings that are quite thick. The chain of yellow spots on the hind wings are large and slightly crescent-shaped, creating a miniature series of additional tails; the set just below the true swallowtail tails are somewhat reminiscence of Papilio multicaudata. These traits seem to be characteristic among California populations, particularly along the coast. 

This individual was especially hungry, perhaps because of its larger size and because it eclosed earliest today. When we very carefully placed it on a blooming lilac (Syringa sp.), a swallowtail favorite, it started plunging its proboscis into the flowers to drink. 

The second one is slightly smaller than the first, blacker and paler yellow, and perhaps a bit plumper, but is otherwise quite similar in overall appearance, which is not surprising considering they are immediate siblings.

The last one is quite small such that the wing shape is more triangular and the ratio of the non-black colors is lsess. 

None of these are a perfect match for any of the many males we encountered last year at Albany Hill in Alameda County, California. Rather, they, unsurprisingly, very closely resemble the parents, particularly the mother. Both parents also had very long tails. In any case, we feel that these phenotypes are quite spectacular compared to what we have seen. It will be interesting to see the adults of the F1 generation should successfully inbreed these later. 

​Brian Liang 
Brian 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, insects articles, and site design.

We have received our overwintering western tiger swallowtail (Papilio rutulus) pupae from Albany, California.

Earlier, when we decided had most of our overwintering pupae sent to us on April 28, we were reluctant to also send the rutulus (Papilio rutulus) because they were not actually being kept in cold storage and could potentially (1) emerge during shipment and/or (2) emerge too soon after we receive them, before the willow (Salix) has completely grown out and the weather is warm. However, by now, the weather has taken what seems to be a permanent turn for the better and the willow has been grown out for a while now (actually, it already seems ​to be on somewhat of a decline as the local pests start attacking it and leaf quality deteriorates) so we had them sent.

We received them today and they are all in excellent condition. None of them are dead, although one of them, a male, must have eclosed during shipment because it was crippled under the petri dish when we opened it. As mentioned earlier, we knew that there would be a slight risk of this but in this case, it is not a big deal because none of the other pupae look to be close anyway. Interestingly, according to our mother before the pupae were sent, one of the pupae was pharate which she decided not to send. The out-of-sync-ness of their eclosions is probably normal as their first flight in the wild is very long and may or may not have to do with unnatural indoor conditions. 

​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.

This is the second in a series of posts that we will be making to address each of the species that we are still keeping in Albany, California, now that we are physically there over winter break, that will be covering the western tiger swallowtail (Papilio rutulus) pupae from larvae that were reared in August of this year.

The last post that was made regarding these pupae was just a few days after we moved to Ithaca, New York where we recorded the final mass data after all of the larvae had pupated as reported by our mother. 

Although all but three of the larvae had already pupated while we were still in Albany, this is the first time that we can officially showcase all of the pupae together, which is shown below. 

Interestingly, all three of the last pupae were light morphs, whereas 100% of the other pupae were dark with the exception of a few that we allowed to pupate outside on trees instead of in empty tubs. While nobody was home to see what was taking place in the last days of these three individuals' larval stages, it is assumed that they spent almost or all of their time as prepupae in the container that they were being kept in that was stuffed with willow (Salix) cuttings, suggesting that some factor related to presence of live plant material may influence color.  

While the overwintering naked pupae of most other species we have reared usually experience a fair number of losses, all of these rutulus pupae are still alive, which is both somewhat surprising and a relief, although there are still a few more months to go before they are to eclose. This high survival rate can probably be owed to a combination of excellent sanitation, both before and after pupation, and to the fact that this is local stock that follow very strict seasonality and so are well suited for going through this type of long diapause. The same cannot be said of the local anise swallowtails (Papilio zelicaon), which breed vigorously and haphazardly for as long as they possibly can, or the local pipevine swallowtails (Battus philenor hirsuta) that have a chaotic diapause pattern reminiscent of the tropics; both typically suffer significant losses during diapause. 

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).