Along with the Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia), we attempt to raise its west coast relative, the Ceanothus Silkmoth (Hyalophora euryalus), from eggs for the first time this summer as well. Today we had two dozen Ceanothus Silkmoth (Hyalophora euryalus) eggs arrive from a seller from Pennsylvania who must have originally obtained the brood from the west coast, the species' native range. H. euryalus is a very close relative to the Cecropia Moth (H. cecropia) that were will be raising simultaneously, and it is sometimes possible to hybridize the two but we don't intend on doing this. The two species are very similar in appearance in both larval and adult stages, and phenotypically the main difference between the two is probably the coloration, with the H. euryalus adult having redder wings and caterpillar having different colored tubercles and paler body coloration. It will be extremely interesting to raise these two similar species side by side and to see the differences between the two. This is the first time we have ever attempted to raise this species before despite that it is apparently native in our region according to BAMONA. However, there are virtually no sightings of this moth in Alameda County for over 60 years on the site (although many nearby counties have a hefty amount of sighting each year) and we have never come across it despite living in Albany our entire lives. The reason we wanted to try H. euryalus despite already raising H. cecropia is because it is one of the few Saturniids that is endemic to the West Coast (the vast majority reside in Eastern side of the continent), and thus it is a very species for us- one that we've dreamed of rearing for years but have just never gotten around to doing so until now. The eggs arrived by envelope, stuffed inside with cotton in some sort of plastic case. They had already been removed off of whatever they were laid on and there was a total of 26- 1 more per dozen than we had purchased in order to compensate for a <100% hatch rate just like with the Cecropia eggs. Some first things we noticed when looking at the eggs is that they are more of a coffee brown color compared to the caramel brown of the Cecropia eggs, and eggs of both species are identical in size despite that H. cecropia is larger on average. The seller did not tell us which day they were oviposited, but we assume they were laid the night of the day that we contacted him which was on 6/6, and they will probably hatch within 9-14 days like the Cecropia eggs; today is day 4. - 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 |