We had 12 black swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes asterius) pupae arrive today. Stock origin from Ohio. After years of rearing anise swallowtails (Papilio zelicaon), we now finally have some black swallowtails (Papilio polyxenes asterius), their eastern counterpart. The pupae arrived in good condition, with some still attached to the host plant. From a quick glance, it seems that the sex ratio is quite good and, because they are green and its so early in the season, they are most definitely not diapausing. When they emerge, we intend on attempting hand-pairings and getting them to lay eggs. Additionally, we could also try some hybrid crosses with zelicaon if we have some available at the time. Of course we wouldn't be the first to attempt this type of cross, but it is still a relatively uncommon one. Most amateur breeders have only tried hybrids of Papilio machaon. Speaking of zelicaon, we took this as an opportunity to compare the pupae of the two closely related species. The first thing that we noticed was that the polyxenes were consistently a different shade of green than our four zelicaon. All of the polyxenes were of the exact same bluish green color with bits of pale, whitish streaks whereas all of the zelicaon were yellow green. The overall pattern, however, is basically identical between the two. Only minor differences in morphology were perceivable such as the horn lengths and ratios. With the largest polyxenes pupa weighing 1.2 grams, it does not seem like there is a difference between the size of the respective strains of the two species but with such a minuscule non-random sample size, this is hardly conclusive. If we are able to breed the polyxenes in big numbers, it will probably become much more clear though. ![]() Authors Brian Liang
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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 |