Rearing notes for our third instar Atlas Moth caterpillars (Attacus atlas). These were originally obtained as eggs originally sourced from Indonesia, and reared indoors on Privet (Ligustrum). Rearing Notes 11/12/16-11/??/16: 11/17:
11/15: 11/14:
11/13:
11/12:
- Alan
Comments
Rearing notes for our second instar Atlas Moth caterpillars (Attacus atlas). These were originally obtained as eggs originally sourced from Indonesia, and reared indoors on Privet (Ligustrum). Rearing Notes 10/22/16-11/9/16: 11/9:
11/4:
11/2: 11/1:
10/31:
10/30:
10/29:
10/28:
10/27:
10/26:
10/25:
10/24:
10/23:
10/22:
- Alan
Our first Atlas caterpillar (Attacus atlas) has ecdysed into second instar. After a day in apolysis, our first atlas caterpillar ecdysed into second instar. Like with most other Saturniidae, the second instar looks quite different from the first instar. The first instar was mostly black ventrally and laterally and white dorsally. It has a black capsule and small, mostly uniformly size tubercles with setae at the tips. In contrast, the second is mostly white in color except for the ventral side, and the shade of white is brighter. The black on the ventral side and head capsule have been replaced with reddish brown. There also a few small, mottled patches of reddish brown on the lateral side. The tubercles are now much longer and hairless, and are more cone shaped. Unlike in first instar in which all the tubercles were white, the first three lower lateral tubercles on each side are slightly gray. The true legs are black. The individual spent eight days in first instar from 10/13-10/21 which is quite long for first instar. Most other Saturniidae we have reared spent at most a week in first instar. Perhaps it is the low temperatures (60-70 during the day) that are causing the slow growth rate, or maybe this is just normal for Atlas caterpillars. On another note, 12 other caterpillars (nine shown above) entered apolysis and will probably ecdyse tomorrow, meaning they haven't diverged in age too much yet which is a good thing. Hopefully we will have minimal losses as these get bigger since the remaining eggs are obviously dead and we only have 17 caterpillars right now. - Alan
Rearing notes for our first instar Atlas Moth caterpillars (Attacus atlas). These were originally obtained as eggs originally sourced from Indonesia, and reared indoors on Privet (Ligustrum). Rearing Notes 10/14/16-10/20/16: 10/20:
10/19:
10/18:
10/17:
10/16:
10/15:
10/14:
- Alan
Our Atlas Moth (Attacus atlas) eggs have begun to hatch. Nine of our thirty atlas moth eggs hatched in late morning today. The neonate larvae are black on teh ventral side and yellowish white on the dorsal side. It has thin, fleshy scoli along the entire body, having two dorsal rows and two lateral rows on each side. The head capsule is black and shiny. It looks like any typical Attacini hatchling except the tubercles are quite large relative to its body and are fleshy and long unlike the stubby tubercles of the Hyalophoras or Calleta neonate caterpillars. After hatching, several nibbled on their eggshells and even attempted eating teh shells of unhatched eggs. We removed them from the petri dish we had put all the eggs in and placed five and four in two large petri dishes respectively. Then, we got two Privet (Ligustrum) leaves, stuck their petioles sin a tube of water, and placed them in the dishes. So far, they have still been wandering around aimlessly but hopefully they will settle down and eat some of the Privet by tomorrow. - Alan
Our Atlas Moth (Attacus atlas) eggs arrived today from an Italian breeder. They were originally sourced from Indonesia. Today we had 30 Atlas moth eggs arrive from a breeder in Italy. They arrived sealed in a small petri dish and upon opening it, one had collapsed already but the rest looked plump and alive. They are a mottled pinkish brown color and are mostly round and flat on the bottom. This is the second time we have purchased Atlas Moth eggs in four years, the first time of which all the eggs hatched or died during shipping. This time, international shipping was fairly quick, taking just 11 days, so the eggs didn't hatch yet and will probably do so within the next 3-4 days or so. Regarding some background information about the Atlas Moth, it is found in Southeast Asia and is the second largest moth in the world in terms of total wing surface area after the related Hercules moth (Coscinocera hercules), with wingspans reaching 11 inches. Despite having such large wings, it simply has a large wing to body size ratio and is not nearly the largest moth in terms of body mass. The Atlas Moth has brown wings with large transparent windows on each wing and snake-like heads on the forewings. The larva is whitish green with fleshy scoli with a waxy powder coating much like the related Samia, Acheoattacus, and Coscinocera caterpillars. They feed on a wide range of deciduous hosts in their native Southeast Asian tropics, but will accept Privet (Ligustrum) and Prunus in captivity like most Attacini caterpillars. Speaking of which, Attacus is the type genus for the Attacini tribe since the members of the genus are considered very typical of this group of Saturniids. Looking at the other Attacini moths, they do indeed bear quite a resemblance to the Atlas Moth, especially the Rothschildia which are said to be New World relatives of the Attacus genus.
We decided to have a go at this species since it is such a popular species in Europe and Asia (sort of like the Cecropia Moth in the U.S.), and has such an incredible wingspan that would be quite a sight in real life. We plan to feed the caterpillars Privet since it is evergreen here. This species is considered to be relatively easy to rear under warm and humid, though this makes it tricky to prevent disease. Either way, we decided to try it anyways, since at least we have a chance of success. A while ago, we said that the White-lined Sphinxes was going to be the last non-local species we would obtain this year, but we sort of lied (gotta have some more self restraint...). But really, this time the Atlas Moth will definitely be the last one since deciduous trees around here are senescing. |
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 |