Rearing notes for our cricula silkmoth (Cricula trifenesetrata) second instar larvae. Stock obtained as eggs, June 2017. Rearing Notes 6/27/17-6/29/17: 6/29:
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![]() Authors Alan Liang
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Rearing notes for our first instar cricula silkmoth (Cricula trifenesetrata) larvae. Stock obtained as eggs, June 2017. Rearing Notes 6/19/17-6/26/17: 6/26:
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6/19: ![]() Authors Alan Liang Our cricula silkmoth (Cricula trifenesetrata) eggs have hatched. Twelve of these little larvae hatched today. They are quite interesting, like really like any of the North American Saturniid hatchlings we have seen. They are bight yellow with brownish black heads and prothoracic shields, with hairy, uniformly sized tubercles. They are quite small, measuring about 3 mm in length. We're not sure if they are gregarious or not, as sometimes they seem to aggregate into small groups, but other times are just wandering alone. Finding a suitable host plant for these larvae might be tricky. Lots of hosts are reported to work in captivity, such as Salix, Quercus, Rhododendron, Prunus, Liquidambar, etc., but they might not actually take them. We actually have access to all the hosts just mentioned, so well offer all of them to the larvae to see what they will eat. ![]() Authors Alan Liang Our cricula silkmoth (Cricula trifenesetrata) eggs have arrived. Now this is something that we never thought we'd have the chance to rear. The cricula silkmoth is an old world Saturniid flying in tropical parts of Asia and is used for silk production in India. It's not the biggest Saturniid, but is very unique and should be easy to rear. The eggs came today and were already close to hatching. Many had become gray on one side (the head), with a small black dot. The eggs that hadn't turned grey were a pale coral color. The eggs are quite small, measuring about 1.5 mm long and 1 mm wide. They are wider on one end then the other, the wider end being the head side. Nothing they naturally eat in their native range is available to us here (probably tropical plants like cashew and mango, etc.), but they accept many alternatives in captivity that should be easy to get. Hopefully, we'll find something they take when they actually hatch. ![]() Authors Alan Liang |
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 |