Rearing notes for our white-lined sphinxes (Hyles lineata). Stock originated from Oregon as eggs, October 2016. Rearing Notes 5/18/17-5/??/17: 5/20:
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![]() Authors Alan Liang
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Rearing notes for our white-lined sphinxes (Hyles lineata). Stock originated from Oregon as eggs, October 2016. Rearing Notes 5/5/17-5/12/17: 5/12:
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5/5: See Hyles lineata Eclose ![]() Authors Alan Liang Our white-lined sphinx (Hyles lineata) pupae are beginning to eclose. Stock originated from Oregon as eggs, October 2016. Last night, many of our lineata pupa had become pharate and thus we knew they would begin eclose today. Checking around noon, the first one had already emerged and was female. Some time in the evening, another one eclosed as well - another female, but this was one was small and slightly crippled due to deformities in the way the pupa had hardened back when it pupated. The little moths are spectacular and are unlike all the other moths we have reared so far. The biggest difference is the presence of a long coiled proboscis which is just a small vestige in all Saturniidae and Smerinthinae moths we have reared. The moth is also extremely sleek, with a firm, pointy cone-shaped abdomen and narrow triangular wings. The eyes are large and translucent, with distinct dark pupils. The antennae taper towards the base, more like a butterfly's rather than a moths, but are not clubbed. The color is rather plane, being a dull tannish grey, though the patterns are stunning. White line markings are present on the fore-wings and the hind-wings are pick, though they cannot be seen unless the moth is in flight. The ventral side is patternless. The moth is extremely active, flying rapidly if disturbed too much and wriggles vigorously if picked up, usually escaping our grip unless we hold very firmly. It is one of strongest flyers we have seen, beating its wings at an incredibly fast rate. ![]() Authors Alan Liang Our white-lined sphinx (Hyles lineata) pupa are finally showing visible development and are near eclosion. It;s been over a month since taking Hyles lineata pupa out of cold storage (3/21/17) and we had thought surely such a small species would be quick to eclose. Well, now the pupa finally are, as several of them are now showing visual signs of development, acquiring wing and body patterns. The wings now have white striped patterns and the abdomen now has rows of spots. The entire pupa in general has become a shade darker and feels loose and soft. The pupa have also become extremely sensitive and active, wriggling vigorously when disturbed. We expect these to eclose in a few days and will try to get some pairings and eggs out of them. We took our diapausing polyphemus moth (Antheraea polyphemus) cocoons and achemon sphinx (Eumorpha achemon) and white-lined sphinx (Hyles lineata) pupae out of cold storage. We were initially planning on staggering the times we took all of our species out of cold storage (which we did with the first few), but after we thought about it for awhile we just decided to go ahead and take the remaining species out except Samia cynthia cocoons. Simply put, we'll be leaving for college by August this summer which means we have almost no time to loose if we plan on rearing all of these, plus any new species we get this year. Most host plants look almost ready anyway despite being just March. It'll probably take two months for the pupae to eclose, the moths to pair and lay eggs, and the eggs to hatch. Then it'll be another two months for all the larvae to mature and pupate. So, that's four months for each species meaning if we want them in the pupal stage by August, so now's just about the right time to take them out. We can't afford to wait another month or two. However, we'll hold off on the cynthias for a little longer since those usually grow much faster than a large species like polyphemus. ![]() Authors Alan Liang We have begun overwintering our Saturniid (giant silkmoth) and Sphingid (sphinx) pupae. It's a little late to begin doing so, but we finally got around to overwintering our diapausing pupae in the refrigerator at 40 F (4-5 C). The species we were sure would need this overwintering treatment were cecropia (Hyalophora cecropia), polyphemus (Antheraea polyphemus), imperial (Eacles imperialis), modest sphinx (Pachysphinx modesta), achemon sphinx (Eumorpha achemon), and white-lined sphinx (Hyles lineata) since the stocks orginated from regions with very cold winters. The only diapausing Saturniid/Sphingid pupa we didn't put in the fridge was Smerinthus ophthalmica since it was obtained locally and it does not even get close to 40 F here. To overwinter the pupae of the six mentioned species, we simply dumped them all in various airtight contaners lined with paper towels with a drop of water. Dissapointingly, when we weighed the cecropia cocoons just to see if any had died since the time that they spun in July and August, we discovered two had lost a significant amount of mass and were therefore likely dead. All the other pupae/cocoons of the other species seemed alive. We will probably take them out of the fridge once the trees start growing leaves again (March or April 2017) and will check on them every few weeks just to make sure no mold forms. - Alan
Rearing notes for our White-lined Sphinx caterpillars (Hyles lineata). These were obtained from an Oregon breeder and reared indoors on grape (Vitis). Rearing Notes 10/19/16-11/5/16: 11/5:
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- Alan
Rearing notes for our sixth instar White-lined Sphinx caterpillars (Hyles lineata). These were obtained from an Oregon breeder and reared indoors on grape (Vitis). Rearing Notes 10/6/16-10/18/16: 10/18:
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10/9: Sixth Instar White Lined Sphinx (Hyles lineata) Caterpillar Eating Grape (1) Sixth Instar White Lined Sphinx (Hyles lineata) Caterpillar Eating Grape (2)* *Shown in 8x speed
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- Alan
Rearing notes for our fifth instar White-lined Sphinx caterpillars (Hyles lineata). These were obtained from an Oregon breeder and reared indoors on grape (Vitis). Rearing Notes 10/3/16-10/5/16: 10/5:
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- Alan
Rearing notes for our fourth instar White-lined Sphinx caterpillars (Hyles lineata). These were obtained from an Oregon breeder and reared indoors on grape (Vitis). Rearing Notes 9/27/16-10/2/16: 10/2:
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- Alan
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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 |