We are now attempting to breed our mourning cloaks (Nymphalis antiopa). They originated from an egg cluster collected on willow (Salix) along the Ohlone Greenway Trail (Berkeley, California), June 29, 2017. Many more dozens of antiopas swarmed our tub again today, and this time there are a lot more of them are female. Most of the males have all eclosed, and maybe a few dozen more females are still left to eclose. The tub is soaked in their bright red meconium. We took a few more out to photograph as well. We have not released any of the butterflies that have eclosed so far and have been keeping them all in the tub. Since a good majority of them are already eclosed, we decided to give breeding them a shot. We have no experience breeding these before or any similar nymphalids, but it is possible and has been done before by some. The general idea is to just get them all in a large screen cage around the host and food sources in full sun and wait patiently, and hopefully they mate naturally and lay eggs. For our set-up, we have a large self-constructed wooden screen cage around a small potted willow tree we propagated back in the spring as the host and a live milkweed plant rooted to the ground as a nectar source. Whether or not the butterflies will actually drink from the milkweed flowers, we do not know yet, but so far they don't seem interested. In the wild, antiopas seldom visit nectar flowers and instead prefer tree sap and rotten fruit. If it turns out that they will suck from the milkweed in captivity, then obviously it is the simplest way to provide a food source. However, it may not be the case, so we will most likely need to provide them with some of their preferred food. Others have used bananas and sugar water which would be quite simple to provide them with. We have put several dozens of the butterflies into the cage and could have put more, but overcrowding will likely make it harder for them to mate. So far, they don't do much at all, just resting wings closed along the sides of the cage just like they do in the tub. Or, when the sun is over them, some will open their wings and bask. Only when disturbed do they flap around for a bit before returning to resting. If after several weeks they do not mate or lay, then perhaps it is because they are hibernating, as the overwintering stage is the adult. In that case, they will pull over until probably next March or April and perhaps then they will breed. In our area, we usually stop seeing antiopas flying past July, and they only seldom have another brood at this time. However, our butterflies were reared indoors as larvae and received a much longer photoperiod than in the wild, so possibly that might've tricked them into not going into hibernation as adults. This is our first time rearing this species so we simply do not know. We'll just wait and see what happens. ![]() Authors Alan Liang
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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 |