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A Quick Update on Those Painted Lady Caterpillars

5/31/2017

A quick update on how the painted lady (Vanessa cardui) larvae that we collected in the Berkeley Hills 5/13/17 are doing.

It's been quite a while since we collected these painted lady caterpillars and they've made some good progress. After collecting them, we had put them on a live thistle (Cirsium sp.) in our backyard with a screen cage around them so we wouldn't have to constantly destroy their nests when changing their food if we were to rear them inside. We hadn't really paid attention to them since then and just let them do their business, and checking today, one had already pupated and the rest were mostly already in fifth and fourth instar.

Authors
Alan Liang

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Sporadic Polyphemus Eclosion

5/31/2017

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A month after the majority of our polyphemus (Antheraea polyphemus) moths eclosed, another one has sporadically eclosed.

What a surprise. Back when our polyphemus were eclosing several weeks ago, all had come out except for three cocoons. Today, one of the three randomly eclosed into a very large male. Not sure what caused this one and the other two to not eclose in sync with the others, but hopefully the other two eclose so we can possibly get a pairing.

Authors
Alan Liang

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Argema mimosae L5 Rearing Notes (5/26/17-6/2/17)

5/31/2017

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Rearing notes for our fifth instar African moon moth (Argema mimosae) larva.

Rearing Notes 5/26/17-6/2/17:

6/2:

Sadly, though the larva has not actually died yet, it is clearly heavily diseased now and has shrunk in size and has become discolored; there's no point keeping it anymore at this point so we threw it away

5/31:

The poor animal - to be the lone survivor of some 15 or so eggs that couldn't make it through the mail in time, and to make it all the way to fifth instar. . .just to grow weaker and weaker; we're afraid the larva is doomed at this point if it really doesn't regain its appetite

5/30:

The larva is most definitely diseased if it does not start growing, as it only a fed a little since yesterday and seems to be growing weak; also, when inspecting closely, there are small black spots on its body

5/29:

The larva did not eat very much since yesterday and doesn't look any larger than before - starting to worry that it could be diseased

5/28:

The larva ate most of a medium sized leaf, though strangely when we put it on the scale, it only weighed 2.5 g which is less than what it was at prior to molting to fifth instar; this larva's mass seems to fluctuate quite a lot for some reason and its growth is very slow

5/27:

The larva has fed a little and is slightly plumper already with firmer looking spikes

5/26:

The larva molted into fifth instar after spending a very long 15 days in fourth instar
The fifth instar is identical to the fourth instar except the fleshy spikes are further elongated and the hairs at the tip are much longer, the head capsule has reverted back to reddish brown, and the anal plate is much more well defined and is brighter yellow with brown spots

Authors
Alan Liang

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Papilio zelicaon L1 Rearing Notes (5/26/17-5/31/17)

5/31/2017

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Rearing notes for our first instar anise swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon) larvae. These originated from eggs and larvae collected on fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) in both captivity and in the wild here in northern California, May 2017

Rearing Notes 5/26/17-5/31/17:

5/31:

A few of the larvae are now about to molt to second instar

5/30:

The larvae are growing quickly - the largest look full grown already and have become orangish and shiny

5/29:

All wild collected eggs in the petri dish have hatched and are on the potted fennel; the older ones look slightly darker and larger
The egg left outside to photograph still looks more or less the same as before - guess it must really be quite cold outside!

5/28:

We transferred all the larvae onto a small potted fennel plant

5/27:

Most of the wild collected have have hatched; we placed them all in a petri dish with fennel
The developing egg shown is an egg that was left outside for photographing and is clearly behind the ones in the petri dish from the cooler outdoor temperatures, particularly at night

5/26:

Hand-paired another female; it was later placed along with the one from yesterday in the incubator with a fennel cutting for egg laying (too cold today for an outdoor cage); four eggs resulted from this
Three of the wild collected hatched, though the majority are still in the brown stage

Authors
Alan Liang

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Actias luna Rearing Notes (5/14/17-5/31/17)

5/31/2017

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Rearing notes for our luna moth (Actias luna) larva. The stock originated from Alabama, April 2017.

Rearing Notes 5/14/17-5/31/17:

5/31:

Though there is still one more larva that still hasn't cocooned yet (diseased?), we went ahead and collected mass data for all the cocoons and placed them in the incubator at constant 75°F/24°C; apparently, one was dead as it weighed very little
The cocoons are some of the loudest ones out there, as the pupa wriggle vigorously when disturbed
Cocoon mass (g) (n=11): 3.0, 3.1, 3.3 (2), 3.4 (4), 3.5, 4.1, 4.2 (2)
- Mean: 3.525
- SD: 0.411
- Med: 3.4

5/22:

One more prepupa; these last ones seem to be coming small

5/21:

Another larva became a prepupa and spun

5/20:

There are several partially spun or completed cocoons now, with some being oddly shaped due to odd attachment points in the container; their size is also somewhat divergent

5/19:

Several more larvae became prepupae and begun spinning

5/18:

Another larva become a brown prepupa and is quite large this time; it had weighed about 7.2 g as a full grown larva
The two older prepupa have finished spinning their cocoons which are in the low 3 g range; the silk is very thin a papery and a tan

5/15:

Another larva turned brown and began spinning a cocoon
The largest of the remaining larva is 7.0 g

5/14:

As suspected, the largest larva began spinning a cocoon today after having spent 10 days in fifth instar; it is now a golden brown color and is wrapping itself in sweet gum leaves with silk

Authors
Alan Liang

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Callosamia promethea Rearing Notes (5/26/17-5/30/17)

5/30/2017

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Rearing notes for our promethea moths (Callosamia promethea). This stock originated as cocoons from Massachusetts.

Rearing Notes 5/26/17-5/30/17:

5/30:

The female split with the new large male this morning and resumed laying eggs in the evening; we placed an apple cutting inside the container and it laid a few eggs on it
We started collecting all the eggs in a petri and counted 60+, so the female should still have a lot more in it; we placed the eggs in the incubator at 75°F/24°C to accelerate development

5/29:

The final cocoon eclosed into a large male; we hand-paired it with the already gravid female because we weren't very confident about its fertility after pairing with the old, weak male

5/28:

The female only laid a few more eggs, though it clearly still has hundreds

5/27:

The moths were already unpaired in the morning and the female began laying eggs at night; so far there looks to be a little over two dozen
The eggs are very small, about half the size of cecropia eggs, and look extremely similar to them as well, except white with small amount of caramel mottling from adhesive secreted by the female; they are laid in the same fashion as well, in small neat clusters

5/26:

See Callosamia promethea Pairing

Authors
Alan Liang

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Lophocampa maculata Rearing Notes (5/19/17-5/30/17)

5/30/2017

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Rearing notes for our spotted tussock moth (Lophocampa maculata) larvae. They were collected on willow (Salix) at Albany Hill (Albany, California).

Rearing Notes 5/19/17-5/30/17:

5/30:

Both prepupae have pupated inside their cocoons

5/27:

The other larva spun a cocoon as well, but is slightly smaller than the other one

5/26:

The prepupa finished spinning its cocoon; it is a perfect oval shape and quite large with a flimsy shell made of a thin layer of silk and larval hairs incorporated on it

5/25:

The larger larva found two days ago excreted a pellet of red frass and became a prepupa, wandering around the dish all day before settling down on the side and beginning to spin

5/23:

Found another mature larva at Albany Hill while picking pipevine leaves - not sure what it was doing on the vine, though there was a willow branch right above it, so it had likely wandered off
The new larva is slightly larger than the old one and has three black spots along the yellow portion rather than five

5/22:

Hard to tell visually if the larva is growing larger due to the dense covering of hairs, but it sure ate quite a lot for its size

5/21:

The larva eats surprisingly voraciously for its size, unlike the Orgyia vetusta larva; it is calm at rest but can move quite fast if it wants to; when handled, hairs often rub off

5/19:

See Found a Lophocampa maculata Larva

Authors
Alan Liang

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Hyalophora cecropia L2 Rearing Notes (5/20/17-5/29/17)

5/29/2017

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Rearing notes for our second instar cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia) larva. These originated as eggs from New York, June 2016.

Rearing Notes 5/20/17-5/29/17:

5/29:

Several of the larvae on willow are now in apolysis and a few of the ones on apple indoors are as well
The larvae on plum and sweet gum have hardly grown as always, but at least they don't look diseased
When changing the food for the alder larvae, several were dead and some of the others did not look so healthy either; there had been feeding, though not sure if enough to consider normal; afraid that the larvae had developed disease, we removed all the unhealthy ones and transferred the remaining to an airy container away from all other larvae

5/28:

Surprisingly, the willow larvae have come to surpass apple and all the other hosts despite not even being very old; they are all very large, and one of the second instars entered apolysis; full grown second instar length is about 16 mm and mass is 0.1 g
The apple larvae outside actually look very healthy and close to apolysis, though they are simply just a bit small
The larvae on alder are starting to put on some volume now, but it is still quite shocking how far behind they are compared to those on willow which are the exact same age based on hatch date

5/27:

Indoor apple and willow larvae are currently in the lead, probably not just in growth rate but genuinely in size as well; in fact, those on apple outdoors may still be ahead based on the tightness of their cuticles except they are much smaller so it appears they are behind the indoor ones
A few more larvae on plum molted to second instar but are extremely small, almost all the larvae on alder have molted to second instar, and there are still only a few second instars on sweet gum

5/26:

The largest larvae on apple have become very yellow and plump; the dorsal thoracic tubercles are also turning reddish meaning they are likely approaching the end of the instar
Most larvae on willow are now second instar are on par with the indoor apple larvae in terms of size; several larvae on alder also molted, though some look quite small; there remains just one second instar on sweet gum

5/25:

The larvae on all hosts are now in second instar except those on plum; the ones on apple indoors are much larger and ahead, with those outside and on willow close behind

5/24:

The larvae on apple outside are becoming much yellower as their cuticle stretches
The larvae on plum outside are still far behind those on other hosts except sweet gum, despite being some of the oldest of all the larvae
A few more larvae on willow molted into second instar; the older ones are already as large as the ones outside on apple despite being days younger
The larvae on alder and sweet gum are still mostly in apolysis, with several on sweet gum still just growing

5/23:

Over 60 larvae outside on apple are second instar now, and the vast majority are indeed yellow despite the first few melanics; we resleeved these 60 using three sleeves and recollected all the first instars into a container for them to molt indoors
It is very apparent now that we recollected outdoor larvae that the indoor larvae are much larger despite being younger - the apple photo on the right is of the indoor larvae and the left and middle one are outdoor, and as shown, some of the outdoor larvae are only half the size (photos are scaled the same)
Of the three indoor non-apple hosts, willow larvae remain ahead with several in second instar; alder is close behind with most larvae in apolysis; sweet gum is still last, with most larvae still growing

5/22:

The second instar larvae have become slightly yellower now that their cuticle has stretched a little, though many are still quite melanic
The larvae indoors are clearly growing at a much faster rate and are larger, as a some on apple and now willow as well are now second instar

5/21:

A few more larvae outside molted to second instar and some are quite melanic; the ones from yesterday already look a bit larger than before
A few larvae on the apple indoors have molted as well, but probably spent only half the time as the ones outdoors, probably due to the more constant warm temperature and higher humidity; unusually, these are almost entirely black
Larvae on willow are far ahead of the other indoors hosts besides apple, as most are preparing to molt to second instar

5/20:

A few of the larvae sleeved outside on apple have molted into second instar after spending a long 11 days in first instar
The second instar are yellow with much larger tubercles than before; there are intertubercular black spots and varying degrees of black melanization, with some having more black on the tuebrcles and head capsule than others
The larvae on plum have begun to become yellowish but are still quite behind for how old they are
The larvae on willow, alder, and sweetgum indoors continue to feed well, with willow still in the lead - one of the larva is already preparing to molt to second instar

Authors
Alan Liang

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Pipevine Larvae are Ripe for the Picking

5/29/2017

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After not collecting pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor hirsuta) larvae for over two weeks, we were shocked by the absurd amount of larvae that were up in the Berkeley Hills today.

We decided to skip off on last week's pipevine collecting trip since we already had hundreds to deal with, and we doubted we were going to find any eggs anyway as the egg season was just about ending. However, we decided to go again today - not to collect eggs, but to see if there were older larvae, particularly fifth instars, that we could just collect and have pupate within a week.

Well, when we arrived up in the Berkeley Hills, it turned out we were right about there being many larvae just ripe for the picking, but we were simply shocked at the massive number of them! We had already collected hundreds of eggs and larvae here and weren't expecting to find many more, but it looks like we missed at least half of them, as there were simply larvae everywhere on the vines - many of them fifths, meaning they had been here all along for several weeks. These wild larvae behave nothing like the ones in captivity, being extremely active and sensitive, crawling from plant to plant to feed and extending their osmeteria instantly when disturbed to release a orange fluid. The wild larvae are also much redder due to being in the sun, with red on the normally black elongated scoli on the thorax and the rear.

After collecting for over an hour, we had a tub full of over a hundred larvae - a good half of them fifth instars, but also many fourths and a few thirds and seconds. There were no first instars and only one old egg cluster, clearly indicating the egg season is over and only large larvae are present. Pupae probably already exist in the wild at this point as well. When we got home, we dumped all the newly collected larvae into a new tub to separate them from the old captive ones. Though the first several captive larvae we reared were very large and healthy, these days they are coming up much smaller, but the wild ones look much larger and will give our stock a fine boost. We just hope they aren't parasitized.

Authors
Alan Liang

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Found a Large Yellow Underwing

5/29/2017

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We found a large yellow underwing (Noctua pronuba).

Authors
Alan Liang

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