Today our Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) chrysalises arrived. What we plan to do with them. . . We failed to successfully get our hands on some of our native Western Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio rutulus) this year, but as of today we have its Eastern counterpart -- Papilio glaucus. Obtained from an Ohio breeder, we now have thirteen Eastern Tiger chrysalises. We are always curious to compare swallowtail species. Upon first examination, the glaucus chrysalises are virtually identical to our rutulus. However, these glaucus are surprisingly small, significantly smaller than either of our two rutulus chrysalises that we obtained from captive raised caterpillars last year though it is widely documented that the glaucus is supposed to reach a higher wing span. The largest glaucus chrysalis, a female, is only 1.2 grams with the majority of others around 1.0 grams or less (the smallest was 0.7 grams). They are still small when put side by side with the Anise Swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon) which is supposedly smaller than either tiger; our Anise chrysalises can get up to 1.5 grams in captivity and average 1.1 grams or so. And while we never measured the largest rutulus chrysalises, it was quite a bit bigger than a 1.5 gram Anise chrysalis. Tiny sample size, regional differences, and/or field guide lies. . . ? Brown morph chrysalises of the machaon group (black swallowtails, or the true papilios by the more conservative taxonomer), such as our Anise Swallowtail, are strikingly similar to the tiger chrysalises; both are bark mimics. However, our Anise chrysalises are much thicker and stoutier and the wing pattern is distinctly different. While the tiger chrysalises have more or less unmarked wings with the dark pattern mainly residing around the perimeter of the wing, the Anise chrysalises have a lot of veins in the middle of the wing. The black on the tiger chrysalises are also much more mottled, or messy as we see it, with the black band along the side always very pronounced. However, the black band along the back is more pronounced in the Anise. While they are interesting to look at, the ultimate goal of obtaining these chrysalises was, of course, to breed them. The Eastern Tiger is supposed to be multivoltine in much of its range so we suspect that our chrysalises are probably not diapausing and will eclose soon, especially because one or two of them already feel slightly soft and loose (but not dead, of course). We would have liked if they are diapausing though, because it is so late in the season to rear them. If it takes two months or more for the butterflies to emerge, to hand-pair them, to get them to lay eggs, and raise the resulting caterpillars all the way until they pupate, it will be well into October or even November, by which most of their deciduous host plants begin dropping leaves even in our mild climate. The left shows our thirteen chrysalises; the middle compares a glaucus chrysalis (right) with a zelicaon (left); the right compares a rutulus chrysalis (left) with a glaucus chrysalis (right) - 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)
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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 |