Our Achemon Sphinx Moth eggs (Eumorpha achemon) have arrived from a Utah breeder. Our Achemon Sphinx eggs (Eumorpha achemon) have finally arrived from a breeder in Utah. The eggs came in a small flat plastic case, but we transferred them to a small petri dish and placed them in a safe place where they wouldn't desiccate from direct sunlight. There are 26 eggs in total, 2 more than what we asked for to compensate for a less than 100% hatch rate. The eggs are leaf-green and remind us of eggs of Tiger Swallowtail species, but instead of spherical, they are ovoid just like the eggs of the Ophthalm Sphinx moth and Imperial Moth that we have reared. Most of them are somewhat mottled with yellowish green, so perhaps they are about to hatch? They were laid several days and can take as little as 3-4 days to hatch so perhaps they will hatch tomorrow morning. As for general information about the Achemon Sphinx, it is a large Sphingid with a wingspan of 8.7 - 9.6 cm (BAMONA) and inhabits most parts of the U.S., though it hasn't been reported in our area. The caterpillars specialize on grape (Vitis) and related vines in the Ampelopsis; we plan to feed them them grape. This species is belongs to the Macroglossinae subfamily of Sphingidae whose members have very long proboscises and probably live for weeks or months in contrast to the Smerinthinae subfamily and Saturniidae that lack functional mouth parts and live short adult lifespans. This makes breeding them a little trickier though, since they will probably not lay their eggs as readily. The adult moths are brown with slender and pointy body and wings. The caterpillars are variable in color from green, brown, orange and red with notched white lateral streaks and have an eyespot-like "button" instead of a horn in the final instar. Anyways, we wanted to rear this species mainly because it is seldom offered and we haven't reared a many Sphingids in general and never one of the Macroglossinae. There are also a lot of nice grape sources around here and the leaves so it would be nice to make some use of them. And finally, we find the caterpillars very interesting looking, with hilariously pudgy thoraxes in the later instars (can't help but like the fatties!), and they are probably very easy to rear like most Shingids. With that being said, we hope this species will be a very fun one to rear! - 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 |