After we went out collecting Monarchs (Danaus plexippus) today, we realized that the caterpillar we found had eaten three of the eggs! As we went over in this June post, Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) are freakishly abundant this year. We cannot remember a single day when we had not seen one if we just took a moment to step outside when it was sunny. We have witnessed them courting, mating, and laying eggs on multiple accounts, establishing an actual breeding colony here in Albany which is normally only a temporary migration destination during the winter. Today, we had casually been standing around in our yard for a few minutes in the afternoon when a female Monarch came to suck at our tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) which was in full bloom. Of course, this is not a particularly uncommon sight this year. But this time we went ahead, grabbed our net, and caught it in one fell swoop just for the heck of it. We put it in a laundry bag covering a little potted tropical milkweed to try to get it to lay some eggs. While we were at it we noticed a few eggs on the milkweed, a fourth instar caterpillar, and a mature fifth instar. This entire year, our milkweeds had been covered over and over -- probably multiple times every week -- with Monarch eggs. Quite ridiculous, yes, and we probably could have collected hundreds of them by now if we had tried (this just goes to show how low the survival rate of these things, what with all the European paper wasps [Polistes dominula] and ladybugs [Coccinellidae] patrolling the plant all day since!). But for the most part we had left them alone, not having the motivation to rear this much overrated species once again with so many other projects going on; we have only reared them two times this year, in small batches, once in April and again in June. We decided to go for a third since milkweed has become so abundant in Albany over the last year or so and leaves wouldn't be a problem for potentially raising tons of caterpillars. For today, we collected five eggs and the two caterpillars from our milkweed and temporarily put them inside a small petri dish which was the only thing we hand on our hands at the time. A few hours later, after we were ready to deal with setting up housing and such, we realized that there seemed to be less eggs than we had collected. Upon closer examination, three of the eggs had been quite evidently chewed up. We should have been more careful! It is known fact that the caterpillars of some species of pierids (Pieridae) and nymphalids (Nymphalidae), the latter of which the Monarch is a member of, will cannibalize eggs when given the chance. We have had this problem with Cabbage Whites (Pieris rapae), Gulf Fritillaries (Augraulis vanillae) and Vanessas but not really Monarchs, a species we have raised for years, so we thought we were safe. But I supposed not! - 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 |