Our Achemon Sphinx (Eumorpha achemon) eggs have begun to hatch. Since yesterday, our Achemon Sphinx eggs appeared pharate (crescent shape and black line for horn), we were almost certain they were going to hatch today. Since most Shingidae and Saturniidae eggs tend to hatch in the morning, we eagerly checked on them at 8 AM but none had not hatched yet, and we assumed it was still too early for them. When we checked again at around 2 PM, there were two newborns, one of which looked like it had just hatched based on its pale color. We were somewhat confused, however, since we had expected that most or all of them would've hatched by now since it was already afternoon. However, we later realized that either the eggs' circadian rhythm was off or this species' eggs hatch at random times of day starting from noon to evening, because after those first two hatchlings, 19 more hatched at random times between 2 PM and midnight, making a total of 21 hatchlings today and leaving 4 eggs unhatched. None of the newborns ate their eggshells after hatching. The newborn caterpillars are yellowish green in color just like the color of the pharate eggs, and have yellow head capsule and black horn. When they first hatch, their teneral bodies are paler in color, and the horns are very short and reddish brown but eventually elongate (similar to how an adult butterfly or moth expands its wings) until they are longer than their bodies before tanning into a black color. The body shape is slender like most sphinx caterpillars and the head capsule is the slightest bit pointy at the bottom. Size-wise, these caterpillars are a bit smaller than the Ophthalm Sphinx newborns we have reared, but their horns are much longer at birth. After the eggs hatched, we got a grape (Vitis) cutting (whole vine, not singular leaves), stuck it in a water tube, stuck the tube into a upside down cup with a hole to keep it upright, and placed it in a vertically positioned airtight plastic tub. Then, we transferred all the newborn caterpillars eventually distributed onto the cutting. Most of the caterpillars had been wandering around aimlessly in the petri dish before, but when placed onto the grape cutting, they quickly stopped moving and assumed a sphinx pose on the undersides of the leaves. The yellow-green color of the caterpillars matches the color of the grape leaves perfectly, and the only thing that gives them away was their long, black horn. So far they seem very content in the set up, and there is already some evidence of feeding based on a few fecal pellets and tiny holes in the middle of the leaf. - Alan
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Timeline 2012–2017
Albany, California This timeline is a series of daily posts recording our observations on and experiences with various insects in Albany California and surrounding areas, from 2012-2017. Since we did not publish this site until 2016, posts before that were constructed retroactively. Starting in August 2017, we moved to Ithaca, New York; posts from there on can be viewed at Timeline 2017-present: Ithaca, New York. Archives (1,011)
August 2017 (49) July 2017 (121) June 2017 (79) May 2017 (77) April 2017 (91) March 2017 (35) February 2017 (12) January 2017 (10) December 2016 (12) November 2016 (26) October 2016 (49) September 2016 (84) August 2016 (94) July 2016 (99) June 2016 (53) May 2016 (21) April 2016 (4) January 2016 (1) August 2015 (3) July 2015 (3) June 2015 (2) June 2014 (3) May 2014 (1) April 2014 (3) March 2014 (3) December 2013 (2) November 2013 (2) October 2013 (5) September 2013 (11) August 2013 (15) July 2013 (9) June 2013 (5) May 2013 (4) April 2013 (3) March 2013 (2) February 2013 (3) January 2013 (2) December 2012 (2) November 2012 (1) October 2012 (2) September 2012 (2) August 2012 (5) July 2012 (1) June 2012 (1) 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 Adelpha californica Agraulis vanillae Allancastria cerisyi Antheraea mylitta Antheraea polyphemus Anthocharis sara Argema mimosae Attacus atlas Battus philenor hirsuta Bombyx mori Caligo atreus Callosamia promethea Coenonympha tullia california Citheronia regalis Cricula trifenestrata Danaus plexippus Eacles imperialis Erynnis tristis Estigmene acrea Eumorpha achemon Eupackardia calleta Furcula cinereoides Heliconius erato Heliconius hecale Heliconius sapho Heliconius sara Hyalophora cecropia Hyalophora columbia Hyalophora euryalus Hylephila phyleus Hyles lineata Junonia coenia Langia zenzeroides formosana Lophocampa maculata Manduca sexta Morpho peleides Nymphalis antiopa Orgyia vetusta Orthosia hibisci quenquefasciata Pachysphinx modesta Papilio cresphontes Papilio eurymedon Papilio glaucus Papilio machaon oregonius Papilio multicaudata Papilio polyxenes asterius Papilio rumiko Papilio rutulus Papilio zelicaon Phyciodes mylitta Phyciodes pulchella Pieris rapae Plejebus acmon Poanes melane Polites sabuleti Polygonia satyrus Pyrgus communis Rothschildia jacobaeae Samia cynthia advena Samia ricini Smerinthus cerisyi Smerinthus ophthalmica Strymon melinus Trichoplusia ni Uresephita reversalis Vanessa annabella Vanessa atalanta Vanessa cardui Unidentified Lepidoptera Hybrids Papilio glaucus × Papilio rutulus Papilio polyxenes asterius × Papilio zelicaon Orthoptera Melanoplus devastator Phaneroptera nana Pristoceuthophilus pacificus Scudderia mexicana Trimerotropis pallidipennis Phasmatodea Carausius morosus Phyllium giganteum Mantodea Mantis religiosa Phyllocrania paradoxa Hymenoptera Apis mellifera Bombus vosnesenskii Brachymeria ovata Linepithema humile Pediobius sp. Polistes dominula Xylocopa varipuncta Unidentified Diptera Lucilia sericata Unidentified Hemiptera Brochymena sp. Leptoglossus sp. Nezara viridula Odonata Argia vivida Libellula croceipennis Coleoptera Coccinella septempunctata Cycloneda polita Diabrotica undecimpunctata Hippodamia convergens Araneae (Class: Arachnida) Araneus diadematus Phidippus johnsoni |