Timeline

Papilio rutulus L3 Rearing Notes (7/23/17-7/??/17)

7/25/2017

Rearing notes for western tiger swallowtail (Papilio rutulus) third instar larvae. Stock originated as eggs laid by a captive female, originally found as an egg in Albany, California and hand-paired to a male captured also in Albany, California, on July 7.

Rearing notes 7/23/17-7/??/17:

7/25:

The oldest larvae are huge now and look just about ready to molt already

7/24:

As more of them molt to third instar, we are seeing yet more variation, with color forms all over the spectrum; some intermediate larvae are actually some parts green and some parts brown instead of blended into a dirty green

7/23:

Several of them have molted to third instar; there is a lot of variation in color between them; only one third instar is green (closer to intermediate, actually) while most of them are brown with greenish undersides or all brown
They are also diverging in size more violently than ever now, despite all being siblings; the green morph third instar is miniature, for example, being almost half the size of some huge second instars; we have noticed in both previous rearings and in Papilio zelicaon that the lighter morphs tend to be smaller, perhaps as a result of less juvenille hormone which is associated with the color changes throughout the instars

Authors
Brian Liang

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Samia cynthia advena L2 Rearing Notes (7/22/17-7/??/17)

7/25/2017

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Rearing notes for cynthia silkmoth (Samia cynthia advena) second instar larvae. Stock originated as pupae from Pennsylvania.

Rearing notes 7/22/17-7/??/17:

7/25:

The larvae have entered apolysis and are still very yellow with hairy black tubercles all over them; Samia ricini would be pale by this time (almost white) with little markings at all

7/24:

Larvae are still very thick skinned and hairy, much more like typical Atticini early instar larvae and not at all like Samia ricini now

7/23:

The larvae are still extremely yellow and the tubercles have tanned to black again; they are still very hairy unlike Samia ricini which are not hairy at this stage

7/22:

A lot of the larvae have molted to second instar and are still a dark shade of yellow, unlike Samia ricini larvae which are clearish; their head capsules and tubercles are yellow and not black as in S. ricini; and the hairs are still white

Authors
Brian Liang

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Citheronia regalis L3 Rearing Notes (7/23/17-7/??/17)

7/25/2017

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Rearing notes for regal moth (Citheronia regalis) third instar larvae. Stock originated from Ohio, July 2017.

Rearing notes 7/23/17-7/??/17:

7/25:

Largest larvae are now at 0.4 g

7/24:

The larvae are somewhat variable in how dark they are, but unlike last instar there are no black forms at all

7/23:

A single one has molted to third instar and for somehow got its horns deformed; interestingly, this one is slightly greenish unlike the third instars from last time; either genetics something to due with rearing conditions such as high temperature?

Authors
Brian Liang

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Papilio polyxenes asterius L5 Rearing Notes (7/24/17-7/??/17)

7/25/2017

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Rearing notes for black swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes asterius) fifth instar larvae obtained from a hand-pairing between butterflies that eclosed from pupae originating from Cleveland, Ohio.

Rearing notes 7/24/17-7/??/17:

7/25:

The larvae are growing steadily, looking more and more like tiger larvae in shape
Out of curiosity, we decided to give them a flower stock to see if they will eat it; so far they have not eaten any, but perhaps by tomorrow

7/24:

The newly molted fifth instars are distinctly different than Papilio zelicaon; they have much smaller spots that do not break the black bands (which are surprisingly thick) anywhere along the abdomen; the shape of the abdomen is also much slimmer and smoother (segments do not bulge out at all), giving them a much more tapered look typical of tigers

Authors
Brian Liang

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Manduca sexta Rearing Notes (7/21/17-8/??/17)

7/25/2017

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Rearing notes for our Carolina sphinx (Manduca sexta) larvae. Stock originated as eggs, June 2017

Rearing Notes 7/21/17-8/??/17:

7/25:

Seven more larvae became prepupa and burrowed; many were quite large, still in the 10 or 9 g range prior to burrowing
The prepupa we dug up looks more or less the same as before; it takes a long time for larvae of this size to pupate

7/24:

Three more larvae became prepupa, this time quite large in the 8 and 9 g range prior to burrowing
The remaining fifth instars are becoming quite large, with the largest at 11.9 g and a few others in the 10 and 11 g range
The very first prepupa that we dug up dulled in color and become a dirtier yellower

7/23:

Three more larvae became prepupae; unlike the ones before, the prepupae today turned quite brownish, one even somewhat purplish; they weighed in the 7 g range before burrowing
As it has been two days since the first prepupa burrowed, we decided to dig it up to see if it had created a chamber, and surprisingly, it had not done anything special at all, just like the ophthalmica prepupae we put in soil - it was just lying immobile and covered completely in soil; perhaps the soil was too loose for it to really work with it as it is very loose potting soil; it has become a brownish yellow color and has shrunk significantly, only weighing a mere 4.4
The rest of the fifth instar larvae are still feeding voraciously away at the last scraps we can pick from our tomato plants; being indoors definitely seems to increase the size of the larvae as with most other species we have reared; the largest is already at 11.7 and many others are in the 9 g range

7/22:

The larvae had stripped everything in their sleeves this morning and we would've resleeved them but the plants were becoming quite defoliated so it was difficult to find places to do so; instead, we resorted to taking most of the larvae back inside and placing them in a large tub; at first we went out and got some groundcherry cuttings (Physalis peruviana), another known host in Solanaceae, but they seemed reluctant to feed on it as the leaves were thick and dense in trichomes, so instead we scrapped up some tomato leaves and fruit from our own plans; we'll keep them there until they all become prepupae which should be quite soon by now
Most of the larvae are in the 8-9 g range, with one that weighed 10.8 g this morning but dropped back down to 9.8 g after producing watery tomatoe frass - a single excretion can decrease the larvae's weigh by as much as 0.3 g, so we can see why their weights keep fluctuating!
One of the larvae became a prepupae, turning slightly yellowish brown with a very visible pulse; we placed it in the tub of soil with the one from yesterday

7/21:

Well that certainly was fast - though most larvae are still feeding away at the tomatoes, one of the larvae has become a stubby, brownish prepupa, dropping to 7.2 g (probably peaked around 8-9 g as a larva which is likely not impressive for this species, though admittedly, rearing was not as good as it could've been so far as larvae constantly starved for several hours everyday in their early instars after finishing their food due to underestimation of their appetite)
To test if the pepupa was ready for soil, we placed it on the ground and sure enough it began to burrow, so we took it in, filled a tub with soil, and let it due it in there; it is a very powerful digger, burrowing very quickly presumably just with its mandibles and thoracic legs; we could have just had it pupate in a tub full of paper towels which usually works no problem with most earth pupators, but we wanted to actually see it burrow and, if we remember correctly from when we last reared this back in 2009, create a solid earthen chamber somewhat like an eggshell

Authors
Alan Liang

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Agraulis vanillae Rearing Notes (7/20/16-7/??/17)

7/25/2017

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Rearing notes for gulf fritillary larvae (Agraulis vanillae) found on passionflower (Passiflora) in Albany, California.

Rearing notes 7/20/17-7/??/17:

7/25:

One of the larvae is missing, so it probably ran somewhere in the tent to pupate

7/24:

7/23:

Looking to be almost done here

7/22:

Looking almost done here; the fifth instar larvae are very thick and shiny

7/21:

These are growing incredibly fast, even outside where it is much cooler than inside on average, typical of these nymphalids

7/20:

The fourth instar has molted to fifth
We found an old fifth instar larva on the potted passionflower (Passiflora). . . not sure how we were able to miss it all these days; these just must be very good at hiding seeing as we couldn't find the fourth instar before for several days

Authors
Brian Liang

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Actias luna L5 Rearing Notes (7/22/17-7/??/17)

7/25/2017

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Rearing notes for our luna moth (Actias luna) fifth instar larvae. The stock originated as eggs from Alabama, April 2017.

Rearing Notes 7/22/17-7/??/17:

7/25:

Strangely, despite that more and more larvae are entering fifth instar everyday, not a single one of them has had a green a capsule so far; this is truly quite unusual, unless perhaps the coloration is an indicator of whether the larva is destined to diapause? (i.e. diapause=brown, non-diapause=variable between green or brown?)

7/24:

Now that there are about a dozen fifth instars, it's starting to seem quit unusual for all of them to be the brown head capsule morph, and even stranger is the tubercle coloration of some of the newer ones - rather than being the typical pink or red, they're purplish or bluish grey; perhaps it is just genetics and this lineage happened to have some odd genes, as the parents of these larvae were similarly colored, though mainly during the fourth instar, not fifth

7/23:

A few more larvae molted to fifth instar, all, surprisingly, with brown head capsules and dark tubercles; larvae with green head capsules and pink tubercles have yet to molt

7/22:

The first larvae molted into fifth instar after spending 10 days in fourth instar; it is a rather smaller one with a brown head capsule

Authors
Alan Liang

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Samia ricini L4 Rearing Notes (7/20/17-7/??/17)

7/25/2017

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Rearing notes for our eri silkmoth (Samia ricini) fourth instar larvae. Stock obtained as eggs, March 2017.

Rearing Notes 7/20/17-7/??/17:

7/25:

Well, there we have - 1.3 g larva and not even in apolysis yet; at least one other was also 1.3 and many others were 1.0-1.2 g; it will be interesting to see how big they can get next instar on Liquidambar

7/24:

The larvae quite large now, with the largest at 1.1 g and many others 1.0 or .9 g; in previous rearings, larvae never exceeded 1.2 g, so these are either full grown or very close to; possibly, they may even exceed 1.2 g as Liquidamber has seemed to be quite a good host based on their extraordinary growth rate (last rearing, we had them in the incubator at constant 80 °F and they spent five days this instar; this time they are at room temperature (highest day temps only mid 70s) and it's only been four days so far)

7/23:

The larvae continue to grow very quickly, stripping large branches of leaves now; based on head to body ratio, probably near full grown now

7/22:

The larvae are much larger now and feed much more; their growth rate seems to be increasing significantly each instar, as the early instars took the longest, perhaps because, as a very polyphagous species, they had not become accustomed to the host yet and were digesting it poorly

7/21:

The larvae have grown rapidly, becoming plump and white

7/20:

Several of the larvae molted to fourth instar after having spent seven days in third instar
The fourth instars are still slightly gregarious and acknowledge each other presence, though tight aggregations are not crucial; their head capsule have become yellow and tubercles enlarged

Authors
Alan Liang

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Papilio polyxenes asterius and zelicaon Fifth Instar Comparison

7/25/2017

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Here we compare the fifth instar larvae of the black swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes asterius) and anise swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon).

We have yet another series of photographs to show the differences between the two species. First, the Papilio polyxens asterius:

Here is P. zelicaon:

And here together:

Although the P. zelicaon larva in these photos is a nice light form, even the darker forms have the same distinct differences including the huge color spots and bulkier shape. The P. zelicaon are much more cryptic on the flowers than the P. polyxenes asterius in these photos and the P. zelicaon seem much more comfortable on it in terms of their behavior. However, after offering the P. polyxenes asterius some flowers, they eventually did also eat them.

Authors
Brian Liang

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Nymphalis antiopa Pupae Rearing Notes (7/23/17-7/??/17)

7/25/2017

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Rearing notes for mourning cloaks (Nymphalis antiopa). Originated from an egg cluster collected on willow (Salix) along the Ohlone Greenway Trail (Berkeley, California), June 29, 2017.

Rearing notes 7/23/17-7/??/17:

7/25:

They are now pupating in huge masses but many of them are getting minor injuries, apparently as a result of each others' spikes; fortunately, they seem to be very tough and not prone to being deformed; the blood clots very quickly and the pupae seem completely fine
When disturbed, the newly molted pupae wriggle and turn violently like Vanessa pupae, which can be frightening

7/24:

The prepupal larvae are ridiculous how they insist on clumping together with their siblings in enormous masses of dangling, wriggling J's; there is a huge group on the lid of the tank and groups on three willow cuttings, hanging like ornaments; the very appearance is scary enough, so perhaps that is their strategy. . .
The prepupae from yesterday have pupated already, fast as always, and are quite large; these nymphalids don't shrink nearly as much as other groups and don't empty their guts so these pupae are still about 0.8 g (down from 1.3 g max larval weight); they look very similar to Vanessa pupae but have much larger and sharper spikes and are basically completely uniform in color

7/23:

Although there was still massive amounts of eating going on through the night and earlier this morning, by the afternoon at least half of the larvae were marching everywhere at lightning speed to try to find a place to pupate; five of them had already formed J's on some of the eaten cuttings buried in the tub, which is not a very safe location, so we moved all of the larvae into a tank with sticks instead
Inside the tank, the wandering larvae seemed to clump together in large groups as the wandered and, based on their behavior, it seemed like they were going to pupate together in an organized fashion; this suggests that they would still be gregarious all the way through in the wild and that more than a few survive from a clutch

Authors
Brian Liang

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