Rearing notes for what we believe is the larva of the salt marsh moth (Estigmene acrea). It was collected on willow (Salix) at Albany Hill (Albany, California). Rearing Notes 5/19/17-5/??/17: 5/25: 5/23:
5/21:
5/19: See Estigmene acrea? ![]() Authors Alan Liang
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We found what we believe is the larva of the salt marsh moth (Estigmene acrea) on willow (Salix) at Albany Hill (Albany, California). Well, what do you know - another species found on willow again. It's another Noctuid; this time an Arctiin just like the Lophocampa maculata larva we found earlier on the same trip. We aren't positive on the identification, but it looks to be the larva of the salt marsh moth (Estigmene acrea). The larvae of this species can be quite variable and are extremely polyphagous, making it hard to say for sure, but based simply on general appearance and behavior, there's a good chance. The larva is brown and hairy with some yellow and red patterns on the naked cuticle, and crawls with great speed when disturbed. ![]() Authors Alan Liang We went collecting at Albany Hill today and found two species of tussock caterpillars: the spotted tussock moth (Lophocampa maculata) and what we believe is the salt marsh moth (Estigmene acrea). We normally take a trip to Albany Hill everyday to pick pipevine leaves for our pipevine caterpilars, but we never have enough time to actually look around and collect anything there. However, since today our pipevine caterpillars were especially voraciously and finished all their leaves by noon, we had to go to the Hill early in the afternoon today and decided to take a peek to see if we could find anything. After walking along the creek at the side of the Hill or some time, we thought we had a chance of finding some rutulus eggs or larvae, but instead what we found were some tussock caterpillars. However, they weren't the typical Orgyia vetusta larvae that we usually find on the willows here, but the less common, stunning larva of the spotted tussock moth (Lophocampa maculata) - see Found a Lophocampa maculata Larva. After finding the Lophocampa maculata caterpillar, we started heading back along the Hill's creek, and stumbled across yet another species of tussock caterpillar, possibly the larva of the salt marsh moth (Estigmene acrea?). Besides these two species, we spotted several Papilio rutulus flying along the path on the bottom of the Hill like we usually do, but we couldn't net any this time, though they were almost certainly male anyways. ![]() 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)
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![]() ![]() 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 |