Our Ceanothus Silkmoth (Hyalophora euryalus) eggs have finally hatched today. This morning when we checked on our Ceanothus Silkmoth eggs at 11:00 AM, we were delighted to find that 18 newborn Ceanothus caterpillars were wandering around inside. We were not sure when they hatched exactly since we weren't watching them the whole time, but it was probably within the past hour based on the fact that many had literally just walked out their shells and had soft, untanned cuticles. Some of these untanned individuals can be seen in the upper and bottom left-most photos and the two bottom right photos; their tubercles have a brownish pink hue. Later in the afternoon, three more hatched making 21 newborns in total for today. Saturniidae caterpillars usually don't begin feeding until dusk of the day they hatch, so we had some time to figure out what containers to put them in and what host plants to use. We separated the 21 caterpillars into four groups of four and one group of five and place them in the same type of air-type plastic containers we used for the Cecropias. We then went our searching for different host plants, namely ceanothus (Ceanothus) and willow (Salix) to see which they would prefer. Willow was easy to obtain because there are a few very nice trees right across our house, and is very abundant in general in our area. We would like the caterpillars to settle on willow because of this, but unfortunately it is probably not an especially good host choice for them. After, picking a few willow leaves, we found three varieties of Ceanothus: a decently sized and good condition Ceanothus thyrsiflorus bush at Memory Park, three very good condition Ceanothus griseus horizontalis plants at a residential home a block away from our house, and a ton of huge but poor condition Ceanothus griseus at Albany Middle school and along Cerrito Creek. There were also a ton of different Ceanothus varieties at a residential house a few blocks away but there was only one bush of each and most of the varieties had tiny, prickly leaves so we did not consider those. The thyrsiflorus leaves are bigger and softer looking and is probably the better host, but there is only one bush. On the other hand, the griseus and griseus hor. have small, tougher looking leaves but they are much more abundant. So, we have sort of a tough decision here because the best looking host choice is the rarest and the worst looking one is the most abundant! In the end, we picked some thyrsiflorus and griseus horizontalis leaves and put them in the containers along with the willow leaf to give them a choice between the three. After an hour or so after putting in the leaves, only two had settled down on the willow and made a few nibbles, while almost all the rest seemed more interested in the Ceanothus, especially the thyrsiflorus. We will see tomorrow morning which hosts they truly settle on and hopefully it will be clear which one they prefer most. The caterpillar and egg count for today is: L1: 21; unhatched eggs: 5. - Alan
Comments
|
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 |