Our first three third instar Cecropia caterpillars (Hyalophora cecropia) have ecdysed into fourth instar. After nearly two days in apolysis, all three of our oldest third instar Cecropia caterpillars ecdysed into fourth instar this afternoon between 1:30-2:00 PM. The plum feeder was the first, followed by the apple eater shown in the three photos below, and finally another apple eater shown in the time lapse photos. One of the biggest differences between the fourth instars and third instars is that the rows of black spots between the tubercles is completely gone between the dorsal rows of tubercles, and nearly completely gone between the lateral rows of tubercles (in the first picture you can see tiny black speckles if you look closely enough). Another difference to note is that the body color is more bluish along the back and is even slightly translucent so that you can see the caterpillar's pulse (a greyish line going along the back as seen in the middle and right photos. Also, the five small lateral tubercles along the true legs and A1-2 are now clearly blue as seen in the left photo, not black. In addition, it appears that several tubercles may have gotten more black spikes at the tip (or maybe they were there last instar but too small and short to see), though it is hard to say for sure because they are so thin and often get broken when handling so the number of spikes on each tubercle may not be the true amount that it is supposed to have. Some obvious new black spikes can be seen on the red tubercles which now have seven spikes up from six, the blue thoracic tubercles which now have a sixth central spike in addition to the ring of five, and the large yellow middorsal tubercle on A8 which now has possibly eight or nine spikes up from six. The head capsule, tubercles, and legs are all huge now relative to the rest of the body but the proportions will even out as it grows bigger, since these three areas won't grow or will grow very little compared to the body. Shortly after the individual in the first three photos molted, the third caterpillar in apolysis molted (you can see it starting in the background of the right-most picture). Since we already had the camera out, we took a ton (maybe a little excessive...) of time lapse photos of the caterpillar ecdysing shown below. In addition to these three caterpillars molting, ten more have entered apolysis. Here are the numbers for today: L4: 3; L3+: 12; L3: 19; L2+: 0 ; dead: 2 (drowned) Finally, for the record, today is the 21st day since the first caterpillars hatched, and marks the end of third instar for the oldest individual (the plum feeder), which lasted approximately 6 days and 17 hours from 6/20-6/27. Second instar lasted for roughly 6 days and 1-2 hours from 6/14-6/20, and first instar lasted for roughly seven days and 6 hours from 6/7-6/14. -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 |