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S. mexicana Rearing Notes (8/17/12-8/31/12)

8/31/2012

Rearing Notes for our Mexican Bush Katydids (Scuderria mexicana) that we found as nymphs of various instars in our front and backyards during the spring and summer of 2012. They were reared to adults in a glass fish aquarium with a homemade screen lid. Soil and live bean plants (Phaseolus) were added as the primarily food source but picked flowers were often put in to supplement their diet. All were eventually released back into the wild.

Rearing Notes 8/17/12-8/31/12:

8/31:

This sixth instar male with very thick wing buds must have been preparing to molt soon when it was opportunistically attacked by another katydid in this vulnerable state; the missing hind leg, damaged wing buds, and broken antennae are a result of cannibalism (these katydids require an ample supply of protein in their diet and will scavenge for and eat dead or vulnerable insects in the wild)

Here, we have a massive gallery of our healthy katydids, all sixth instars or adults

Adult Male Mexican Bush Katydid (Scuderria mexicana)

Adult Male Mexican Bush Katydid (Scuderria mexicana) Clicking

Adult Male Mexican Bush Katydid (Scuderria mexicana) Eating

8/19:

Female Mexican Bush Katydid (Scudderia mexicana) Molting to Adult*

*Shown in 16x speed

On the left, a sixth instar male with very thick wing buds (indicative of a looming molt) rests with an adult male
On the right, another sixth instar, this time a female, has begun to process of molting; notice the cuticle splitting as the thorax is being expanded by an increase in blood pressure

8/18:

We have been experimenting with feeding our katydids the deeply pigmented (anthocyanins), purple leaves of the Purpleleaf Plum (Prunus cerasifera); here a very mature sixth instar male feeds on a leaf

8/17:

On the left, an adult male investigates is crawling on the buds of a bean plant (Phaseolus) in the glass aquarium tank.
To the right, he is feeding on a pink dahlia flower (Dahlia).

- Alan, Brian

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C. morosus Rearing Notes (8/9/12-8/27/12)

8/27/2012

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Rearing notes for our four Indian Walkingstick nymphs (Carausius morosus) we found on ornamental dahlia flowers (Dahlia) in our front yard in the summer of 2012. One was a very young instar (second?) and the other three were slightly older (third or fourth?). All four were reared to adults on dahlia leaves in a plastic food container at first but later Romaine lettuce (Lactuca sativa) in a plastic ventilated tank and produced eggs until their death which were kept to produce future broods.

Rearing Notes 8/9/12-8/27/12:

8/27:

Feeding on Romaine lettuce (Lactuca sativa)

8/17:

Indian Walking Stick (Carausius morosus) Molting*

*Shown in 16x speed

Just finishing ecdysing here; this one is getting close to adult

8/14:

Nymphs feeding on a variety of ornamental dahlia leaves (Dahlia) in our plastic food container set up;

8/9:

A young, green morph nymph

- Alan, Brian

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Found a Huge European Garden Spider

8/14/2012

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Today we found a huge European Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus) in our backyard eating a fly!

European Garden Spiders (Araneus diadematus) are an extremely common introduced species and some years, such as this year, our yard is covered in them. In the spring, wherever we walked we would see tons of newborns in their individual silken webs. Now that it is August, many of them have either died off or left, but a few big ones still pop up once in a while. This morning, we ran into one in our backyard in a little corner in the shed by our garage. Like all orb weaver spiders, European Garden Spiders specialize in spinning huge orb webs (proportional to the size of the spider, which was huge) for catching prey and it appeared that it had caught and was eating a Green Bottle Fly (Lucilia sericata) and in the afternoon we found it eating another spider!

European Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus) Eating a Fly

European Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus) Eating another Spider

- Brian

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P. rutulus Rearing Notes (8/8/12-8/10/12)

8/10/2012

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Rearing notes for our single Western Tiger Swallowtail caterpillar (Papilio rutulus) that we found as a third instar this month on an apple tree (Malus domestica) in our backyard. This is an extremely unusual host for this species and is not listed as one by most sources, and some even say that larvae will not survive on it despite the female butterfly ovipositing on it. This is only the second time we have encountered a larval P. rutulus, but sadly, it was already parasitized.

Rearing Notes 8/8/12-8/10/12:

8/10:

The fourth instar caterpillar on an apple leaf (Malus domestica) which, mysteriously, was the host plant that we found it on
Unfortunately, it died a few days later when a parasitoid larvae wormed its way out of its body and pupated

8/9:

The right photo shows the newly molted fourth instar caterpillar still exiting its old skin; on the left shows it posing with its old, much smaller head capsule (they do not eat this because it contains a hard material called sclerotin)
Its appearance is nearly identical to that of third instar

8/8:

Third instar caterpillar is now in apolysis for fourth instar; notice the head capsule separating from the old one
It has only been a few days since we found it

- Alan, Brian

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S. mexicana Rearing Notes (7/16/12-8/6/12)

8/6/2012

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Rearing Notes 7/16/12-8/6/12:

8/6:

Our cold-blooded, nocturnal katydids basking together in the sun like reptiles

8/5:

On the left, six of our katydids pose together for a photo on the bean plant (from top left to bottom right of the photo: third instar, sixth instar female, fifth instar male, sixth instar male, fifth instar male, adult male)
In the middle, the same six pose with our brown morph fourth instar on the bottom right of the photo
On the right, three katydids are feasting on the pollen grains and petals of a variety of blue hibiscus (Alyogyne)

8/3:

A newly molted, teneral adult hangs as its new cuticle begins to tan in the sun

Male Mexican Bush Katydid (Scudderia mexicana) Molting to Adult (2)*

*Shown in 16x speed

8/2:

Male Mexican Bush Katydid (Scudderia mexicana) Molting to Adult (1)*

*Shown in 8x speed

A male molting to adult

7/31:

Hanging upside-down on a leaf (the left image has been reorientated), a fifth instar male has just begun the process of molting; note the thickened wing buds and the exoskeleton beginning to split along the back at the thorax

7/17:

Another newly molted katydid, this time a male in sixth instar (second wing bud instar), one instar away from adult
It has just finished feeding on its skin and is resting in the sun while its new cuticle being the process of chemically hardening, or "tanning"

7/16:

The left shows a third instar nymph basking in the sun on a bean plant (Phaseolus) in our outdoor glass aquarium tank enclosure; on the right, a newly molted fifth instar female (first wing bud instar) begins to feed on its old skin

- Alan, Brian

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