After locating spicebush (Lindera benzoin) at the Mundy Wildflower Garden (Ithaca, New York) for the purposes of finding Papilio troilus larvae, we inadvertently stumbled across promethea silkmoth (Callosamia promethea) cocoons on them! We had originally gone out today intending on collecting some spicebush swallowtail (Papilio troilus) larvae at the Mundy Wildflower Garden, which is one of the few places around with lots of spicebush plants (Lindera benzoin). It took us a little while to find our very first troilus larvae, but the excitement didn't stop there, as we stumbled across six promethea silkmoth (Callosamia promethea) cocoons hanging from the spicebushes! Despite that we have reared most of the North American Saturniids in captivity, we have never seen a wild cocoon in our lives. Back on the west there were only two species, Antheraea polyphemus and Hyalophora euryalus, but they appeared to be absent or extremely rare in our specific area, especially the latter one. Here on the east, we now have a strong representation of this family - there should probably be at least six or seven species. It's a complete shock to us that you can find cocoons simply hanging from a plant here so easily. the leaves haven't even fallen from the deciduous trees yet and the cocoons were still quite conspicuous due to the curling of the leaves and brown silk. All six cocoons were directly on the spicebush plants, which was clearly the larval host, but one of them was empty and looked very old and faded (perhaps last year's assuming they are univoltine here in the north?). The leaves of some of the cocoons had already wilted and died, but the cocoons were still firmly fixed to the branch due to the shiny brown peduncle at the top of the cocoons, which are meant to hold to cocoons on throughout the winter. Though there were dozens of spicebushes along the trail, the cocoons were all located quite close to each other, suggesting they are siblings. It's interesting to note the choice of host here as promethea is a polyphagous species, feeding on mostly fragrant deciduous trees. Like most polyphagous Saturniids though, it is likely a regional specialist meaning it specializes on only a few hosts per region, and spicebush is probably a preferred hosts here. After taking the cocoons home, we cut off most of the excess leaves and branches stuck to the cocoons, but left some on just to keep the natural look. We did a rough weighing (not accurate, though, since there was still plant material stuck to them), and they seemed all fairly large and healthy in size. Parasitized or diseased cocoon should usually be small and light, though ther's no gauruntee these aren't.. ![]() Authors Alan 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 |