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.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
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 |