Rearing notes for our fifth instar Calleta caterpillars (Eupackardia calleta) of F1 generation originally sourced from Arizona and reared indoors on Privet (Ligustrum) Rearing Notes 10/22/16-10/30/16: 10/30:
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- Alan
Comments
Rearing notes for our Indian Walking sticks (Carausius morosus). These are offspring of an adult we have been rearing since March 2016 and a wild caught brown form adult no longer with us. Rearing Notes 10/23/16-10/30/16: 10/30:
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- Alan
Rearing notes for a few Umber Skippers (Poanes melane) that were obtained as eggs laid by two wild caught females in captivity or found on various wild grasses in the Albany Eastside Permaculture Garden Rearing notes 10/22/16-10/29/16: 10/29:
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- Brian
Rearing notes for our Achemon Sphinxes (Eumorpha achemon). These were originally obtained as eggs obtained from a Utah breeder and reared indoors on grape (Vitis). They began pupating on 10/20/16. Rearing Notes 10/21/16-10/27/16: 10/27:
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- Alan
Our Modest Sphinx pupa (Pachysphinx modesta) have arrived from New Jersey. Today we had six Modest Sphinx pupae arrive from a New Jersey source, shown below. Three are female and three are male. The pupae came coated lightly with dirt as the breeder must have allowed the caterpillars to pupate in soil, but we tried to wipe them clean as best we could so we could see the details better. The pupae closely resemble our Smerinthus ophthalmica pupa, which belongs in the same subfamily, Smerinthinae (comparison shown below). The P. modesta are redder and much larger, with slightly wider wings, but almost every other feature are the same. The pupae shape is thick and less tapered than the other two Sphingidae subfamilies. Some of the P. modesta pupae had a few small deformities on the anterior dorsal side, possibly due to the bumpy soil surface. Also, one of the males leaked hemolymph at the cremaster, which was broken off (possibly during shipping), but it is alive and will hopefully survive*. The female and male pupae are not dimorphic as far as we could tell except for a slight size difference; females weighed 4.3, 4.5, and 4.9 while males weighed 3.3 4.3, and 4.4. However, inspection of the gonophore on the ventral posterior end makes it extremely easy to sex them. The females have semi-merged segments at the end with a single slit on the fourth abdominal segment after the wings, while the male segments are well defined with a pair of small kidney shaped spots on the fifth segment after the wings. *Update 11/7: the male pupa with the broken cremaster is clearly dead now. Regarding some background information on the species, Pachysphinx modesta is a very large sphinx moth in the Smerinthinae tribe ranging in much of North America except for the south western United States where it is replaced by P. occidentalis (Western Big Popolar Sphinx), though the two are sympatric in parts of their range. The wingspan of P. modesta is 76-120 mm (3 - 4 11/16 inches) according to Bugguide and BAMONA and are mostly gray except the hindwings, which have a crimson patch. Like other Smerinthinae and Saturniidae, the adults have vestigial feeding organs and are short lived. The caterpillars are like typical Smerinthinae larvae, being green and granulated with a triangular head capsule, but have less elongated bodies. They feed on poplar, aspen, and cottonwood (Populus) and willow (Salix). This species is univoltine in the north so the pupae are in diapause, meaning we will have to overwinter them until next spring. It gets quite cold where they are originally sourced, so we will have to refrigerate them soon. For now, we just placed them in an airtight container with the rest of our Sphingid/Saturniid pupae. When they close next spring, we plan to pair them to obtain eggs and rear them on willow (Salix) just like we have reared our S. opthalmica caterpillars. - Alan
Rearing notes for our Indian Tussah Moth (Antheraea mylitta) cocoons. They are unrelated wild F0 cocoons originally sourced from Chaibasa, India. Rearing Notes 10/16/16-10/??/16: 10/24:
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- Alan
Rearing notes for our Imperial Moth caterpillars (Eacles imperialis). These were originally obtained as eggs from a New York breeder and reared indoors on pine (Pinus) cuttings. Rearing Notes 9/28/16-10/23/16: 10/23:
10/20:
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- Alan
The fourth installment of rearing notes for wild caught Common Checkered Skippers (Pyrgus communis) that we found as eggs or caterpillars on wild, introduced mallow (Malva). Rearing notes 10/16/16-10/23/16: 10/23:
10/22:
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10/19: 10/18:
10/17:
10/16:
- Brian
Rearing notes for our Indian Walking sticks (Carausius morosus). These are offspring of an adult we have been rearing since March 2016 and a wild caught brown form adult no longer with us. Rearing Notes 10/15/16-10/22/16: 10/22:
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- Alan
Since we have accumulated many different Saturniidae and Sphingidae pupae and Saturniidae cocoons this fall, we decided to compare them. Since we have begun to accumulate quite a lot of different Saturniidae and Sphingidae pupae lately, we decided to compare some of them side by side. Above are ventral, lateral, and dorsal views of seven different pupae, the five on the left being Satuniidae and the two on the right Sphingidae. From left to right: ♀Antheraea mylitta (Saturniinae), ♂Antheraea polyphemus (Saturniinae), ♂Samia ricini (Saturniinae), ♀Eacles imperialis (Ceratocampinae), ♀Smerinthus ophthalmica (Smerinthinae), and ♀Eumorpha achemon (Macroglossinae). The two Antheraeas are extremely similar in proportion (except for the antennae size due to sex differences) and have the clear piece on the head, but mylitta is at least two times larger and redder in color. The S. ricini pupa, though distantly related as it is in the Attacini tribe, actually looks very similar to them except it is slimmer and smaller with longer forewings and is golden brown in color, The E. imperialis pupa, being in the Ceratocampinae, looks markedly different from those three, and actually bears quite a resemblance to the S. ophthalimca pupa. Both a much slimmer and tapered on the abdomen, with long cremasters. The E. imperialis pupa wing cases are the most perpendicular at the bases and is quite uniform in width in the center. The S. ophthalmica pupa and other Smerinthinae pupae are not very typical Sphingidae, resembling Saturniidae pupa more since it lacks a proboscis and not excessively elongated and pointy. On the other hand, the E. achemon pupa, being in the Macroglossinae, is a more typical looking Sphingidae pupa, being very elongated, especially at the thorax, with long wings, legs, and proboscis, and a pointy abdomen. Too bad we don't have a Shinginae representative which would be like the E. achemon pupa but with a non-fused proboscis. Also, despite that we have them, we did not include Hyalophora cecropia and Hyles lineata pupa in this line up here because we didn't want to cut the H. cecropia cocoons and the H. lineata are not quite ready to pupate yet. However, the H. cecropia pupa would probably resemble the S. ricini pupa and the H. lineata pupa would resemble the E. achemon pupa as they are the closest evolutionarily. Update (10/24/16): H.lineata pupa comparison here, Pachysphinx modesta here. While we were at it, we also decided to compare some of our Saturniidae cocoons. Below are five different species, the three on the left being in the Saturniinae tribe and the two on the right in the Attacini tribe. From left to right: Antheraea mylitta, Antheraea polyphemus, Actias luna, Samia ricini, and Hyalophora cecropia. All are unopened except the A. luna cocoon since it was from a brood reared in 2013; the rest are unopen and were obtained or reared this year. Despite the close relation between the two Antheraeas, their cocoons are surprisingly different. The mylitta is huge and perfectly smooth and ovular, made of extremely tough and thick beige colored silk. There also is a long silk stalk at the top for hanging to branches. In comparison, polyphemus is less perfectly shaped and flatter, with a tough but thinner shell. There is not stalk since they are either affixed to the tree or in the leaf litter. The A. luna cocoon resembles the A. polyphemus cocoon very much but is brown and the shell is much thinner, shinier, and smoother. The S. ricini cocoon is far less compact and the silk is softer and white. The shape is sort of irregular, being flat and tapered at the ends. The H. cecropia cocoon is also tapered at the ends -- very much so at the top, but the silk is very course and thick, though not as compact a the Antheraeas'. It is the largest cocoon by far and is like a bag, with a little escape hole at the top for when the moth ecloses. Between the three Saturniinaes and two Attacini cocoons the former have more or less ovular cocoons while the Attacini cocoon are more irregular shaped, but are usually tapered at the ends with a escape hole at the top. - 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 |