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:
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
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- Alan, Brian
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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:
8/17: Indian Walking Stick (Carausius morosus) Molting* *Shown in 16x speed
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- Alan, Brian
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
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:
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- Alan, Brian
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 7/16/12-8/6/12: 8/6:
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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
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7/17:
7/16:
- Alan, Brian
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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 |